A combination therapy used to reduce the chances of HIV infection in adult patients is safe for adolescents, a new study by the National Institutes of Health network suggests. Truvada (tenofovir, emtricitabine) is a single pill combination drug currently approved as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) treatment for people at risk of HIV infection.
An estimated 1.1 million people in the US live with HIV, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2015, nearly 40,000 people were diagnosed with the condition, with male patients accounting for over eight out of ten diagnoses. A variety of different drug classes are currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of HIV, including nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), protease inhibitors, integrase inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs).
The latest study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and involved 72 young people. They took part in periodic tests for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and received counseling and other interventions to encourage them to avoid risky behaviors. They were also given oral tenofovir and emtricitabine tablets to take daily for 48 weeks.
Bill Kapogianiss, MD, of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Branch, commented: "Several studies have shown that daily oral PrEP is effective in preventing HIV among people at high risk of becoming infected, but none of them included adolescents under age 18… Our study suggests that this therapy can safely reduce HIV risk for those under 18."
Participants were aged 15 to 17 and were not infected with HIV when the study began. Authors of the study reported many participants skipped or missed doses, with reasons given including being too busy, away from home, changes to routine and forgetting. By the end of the trial, three were diagnosed with the disease. However, in the tests prior to diagnosis, no detectable levels of tenofovir and emtricitabine were found in their blood.
