Drugs reduce HIV among Homosexual men by 44%

The HIV Prevention Research Unit (HPRU) on behalf of the Medical Research Council would like to congratulate the iPrEx team on the positive results of the trial conducted in South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Thailand and the United States.  The large trial involved 2,499 HIV negative gay men and 29 transgendered women between the ages of 18 and 67. The trial was conducted between July 2007 and December 2009.  Participants were randomly assigned to take either a daily dose of Truvada (an anti-retroviral drug used to treat HIV positive people) or a placebo.  All participants received condoms, safe sex counselling and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

A total of 100 HIV infections were observed during the three year study.  36 infections occurred among 1251 participants receiving Truvada and 64 among 1248 receiving placebo, showing that the drug reduced HIV infection by 43.8% among those taking Truvada.  The results are the first in showing that oral use of anti-retroviral drug among HIV negative gay men can provide protection.

The HPRU is currently testing both oral (Tenofovir and Truvada) and vaginal (Tenofovir gel) in a large trial called VOICE (Vaginal and Oral Intervention to Control the Epidemic).  The study is conducted among HIV negative women among several communities in Durban.  The success of both the 1% Tenofovir gel and now the oral use of Truvada for HIV prevention provides a lot of hope for use of new biomedical technologies, together with current options such as condoms and male circumcision for HIV prevention. The results of the MRC’s VOICE trial are expected in 2013.

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CONTACT PERSONS
Medical Research Council                                                                                        
For Prof. Gita Ramjee            
Charmaine Pohl & Tracey Lloyd
E-mail: charmaine.pohl@mrc.ac.za / tracey.lloyd@mrc.ac.za
Phone: +27 (0)31 242 3631