US Considers Approving Drug to Prevent HIV
US Considers Approving Drug to Prevent HIV – This is the VOA Special English Health Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | http Studies show that a drug called Truvada can prevent HIV infections. The pill is taken once a day. Studies showed it was ninety percent effective when people took it every day. It was only half as effective when people did not take it every day. Currently, in the United States, the drug is only approved for use as a treatment for people already infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Now a government advisory committee says Truvada should become the first drug approved for use to prevent HIV. The Food and Drug Administration is not required to follow the advice of its Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee, but it usually does. The FDA is expected to decide by June fifteenth.The advisory committee held a twelve-hour hearing on May tenth to consider the evidence for Truvada. The committee urged the FDA to approve the drug for use by those considered at high risk for getting infected. These include gay and bisexual men and heterosexual couples where one partner has HIV. Mitchell Warren, head of the HIV prevention group AVAC, explains that Truvada is a combination pill. It contains two different antiretroviral drugs that had already been approved individually by the FDA. Then about eight years ago they were approved as a combination. But all of those approvals only related to the use of the drug for treating people who are already infected with HIV.The manufacturer of Truvada, Gilead, would …
NJ drug treatment advocates upset by Gov. Christie's veto of immunity for …
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Enlarge Michael Mancuso/The Times Paul Ressler, who lost his son, Corey, who was 22, to a drug overdose in 2010 when his friends didn't call 911 for fear of being arrested. Last week, Gov. Christie vetoed the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, which …
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Burma, UN increasing HIV treatment programs
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Burma's HIV program will be scaled up “in testing services and providing drugs that are simple and safe to all pregnant women who need them,” he said. With treatment starting early in pregnancy and throughout breastfeeding, the risk of transmitting HIV …
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