The oral antiretroviral drug Truvada
has been shown to lower the risk of contracting HIV among gay men by
44 percent, the New York Times
reported.
The findings are based on a landmark
study across four continents reported in the November 25 issue of the
New England Journal of Medicine.
A daily dose of the drug was clinically
shown to reduce the number of HIV infections by 44 percent.
“I am encouraged by his announcement
of groundbreaking research on HIV prevention,” President Barack
Obama said.
The study found even higher rates of
success in preventing the virus that causes AIDS among those who
faithfully took the drug.
“Those who took the drug on 90
percent or more days had 72.8 percent fewer HIV infections,”
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which carried out the study, told the
news service AFP.
The 3-month study was conducted in six
countries – Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the
United States – and focused almost exclusively on gay men, one of
the highest groups at risk of infection.
Truvada has been approved for use in
fighting HIV in the United States.