NPR reports on Brazilian clinical trial of Truvada as prevention strategy

Jul 19 2012

NPR's "Shots" blog reports on one of the drug trials considered by the FDA in its approval of the antiretroviral drug Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV among people at risk of contracting the virus, which "was done at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Research Institute, also known as Fiocruz, in Rio de Janeiro." "Brenda Hoagland, the medical coordinator of the study at Fiocruz, says the trial showed that Truvada was safe to use and offered a high level of protection against HIV when taken every day," but "she adds that Truvada is not a magic bullet," according to the blog.

"It's not for everybody," she said, adding, "It's for those people who really have a risk," such as sex workers or someone whose partner is HIV-positive, the blog notes. "For the most part the AIDS epidemic in Brazil remains concentrated among prostitutes, intravenous drug users and gay men," according to the blog (Beaubien, 7/17). In a related report, "All Things Considered" host Audie Cornish talks with Wafaa El-Sadr of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health about "the status of HIV prevention efforts in the U.S. today" (7/17).