UN hails pills shown to prevent HIV as "breakthrough"

Jul 13, 2011, 17:48 GMT

Geneva/Johannesburg - Two new studies conducted in Africa show that a once-daily pill can help prevent people from acquiring HIV, with the United Nations on Wednesday calling the data a 'major scientific breakthrough.'

According to the larger study, conducted by the University of Washington's International Clinical Research Center, a daily antiretroviral tablet may reduce by up to 73 per cent the risk of heterosexual transmission of HIV.

Such pills have largely been used to date to save the lives of people already infected. The new research, however, shows they can be preventative in general populations, following up on similar research done on specific groups in recent years.

The study followed 4,758 straight couples in Uganda and Kenya, where one partner was HIV positive and the other was not infected with the virus.

Couples were divided into three groups. The first group, used for comparison, took placebos. The second received the medication tenofovir, and those couples saw 62 per cent fewer infections. Another took tenofovir/emtricitabine, leading to 73 per cent fewer new HIV cases than the placebo group.

Another study, by the US Centers for Disease Control, followed 1,200 men and women in Botswana on antiretroviral drugs and found 63 per cent fewer cases.

'This is a major scientific breakthrough,' said Michel Sidibe, the head of the UN programme on HIV/AIDS. 'These studies could help us to reach the tipping point in the HIV epidemic.'

The World Health Organization said it would use the findings to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The two UN agencies said they hope the 'news will encourage more people to get tested for HIV, discuss HIV prevention options with their partners and access essential HIV services.'

Only about half of the 33 million people living with HIV - the virus that causes AIDS, an immune deficiency illness - know their status, in part because the social stigma around the disease leads to people refraining from testing themselves for infection.

The UN stressed that safe sex, including the use of condoms, was still needed to fight the spread of HIV, even if pills could help reduce risk.

One of the big challenges for effectively using antiretroviral tablets is the cost. Most infections are in poor countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa, where taking such medication daily can be too expensive.

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