
About 1.2 million Americans have human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and each year about 50,000 adults and adolescents are diagnosed with HIV. On July 16, 2012 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir) for the prevention (prohylaxis) of HIV transmission in HIV negative adults at risk for HIV infection from sexual intercourse. This is the first drug approved for this use.
What is Truvada
Truvada is a combination of 200 mg Emtriva (emtricitabine) and 300 mg Viread (tenofovir) which are nucleoside analog HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Truvada has been available for treatment of HIV in combination with other anti-HIV drugs since 2004. The new use for Truvada is pre- exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), in combination with safer sex practices, to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 in HIV negative adults at high risk. (HIV-1 is the most common form of HIV). The dose for HIV prevention is one tablet once daily with or without food. This is the same dose used for treating HIV infection.
For Truvada to be effective in preventing HIV-1 infection the following recommendations should be adopted:
Who is considered at high risk for HIV infection
How effective is Truvada for preventing HIV-1 infection
What are side effects of Truvada
The most common side effects of Truvada are diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, headache, dizziness, depression, insomnia, abnormal dreams and rash. In addition, lactic acidosis, enlarged liver (hepatomegaly), kidney failure, reduced bone mineral density, flare up of hepatitis B infection, redistribution of body fat, and immune reconstitution syndrome (inflammatory response to infection) also occur. Drug resistant HIV-1 viruses were isolated from some subjects who had undetected HIV before receiving Truvada for HIV prevention.
References
Truvada FDA prescribing information
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