Viread raises Hopes of HIV Prevention

Doors have opened to a new and potentially advantageous drug aimed at prevention of HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. The hero is a drug named Viread(generic name tenofovir).

Worldwide, the menace has been fought through counseling on harmful social practices, improving sexual and reproductive health care for women, abstaining from having multiple sexual partners and advocating the use of condoms. However, all this has not been enough. The HIV virus still spreads to millions of people each year leaving them with little hope of life.

The experiment, done in Africa, reveals that Viread is safe when used for prevention. However the results of the experiment have to be taken with a pinch of salt as the scope of the study conducted over a period of six months, was limited to a few women, mostly prostitutes. One group of 427 women was given Viread while another group of 432 women were given a fake drug. Only two HIV cases developed in the former group, while six infections were reported in the latter group.

"We really would be irresponsible to draw conclusions at this time," because those are too few cases to make judgments on, said Dr. Ward Cates of Family Health International, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "But it does underscore the importance of moving forward very quickly now on the other studies on the drawing board." If further trials confirm the drugs effectiveness, Viread could become a powerful weapon against the global spread of HIV/AIDS.

The icing on the cake is that the trials done even in the placebo group, risk of possible infection of the dreaded virus has gone down by providing the women in the placebo group with counseling and free condoms. Statistically, this group had 50% fewer infections than would normally have been the case.

Drugs in the past have proven successful at limiting HIV but eventually the virus adapts to the drugs and the benefits are negated. So, much will depend on the results of the studies underway and the efficacy of Viread in the long term future.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has studies under way in drug users in Thailand, heterosexual men and women in Botswana, and gay men in Atlanta and San Francisco. Another study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is expected to start later this year in Peru.