The researchers announced Monday the interrupución of a study of thousands of African women that examined the effectiveness of a drug to prevent AIDS virus infection AIDS, after partial results not offer any indication that the drug was working. interim analysis study found that women taking Truvada (manufactured by Gilead Sciences), are as likely to contract HIV than those receiving placebo , even if the study continued, it would be possible to determine if the drugs help prevent infection, since the short-term benefits are still very far away, researchers say.
A disappointing result, I note Family Health International, a nonprofit organization involved in AIDS research, because just last autumn a similar study concluded that Truvada had helped to prevent infection in homosexual and bisexual men conjuntamenete when administered with other drugs to prevent and under medical advice. Many AIDS experts, opinion about it was a breakthrough that could help curb the epidemic.
The organization launched the study two years ago, were enrolled in about 3,900 women in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. Through week Last 56 new infections occurred in half of each group.
There were no security problems with Truvada. However, women who took it were more likely to become pregnant than women taking placebo.
"It's a surprising discovery that has no easy explanation" so far known about the effects of Truvada in women using contraception, said Dr. Timothy Mastro of Family Health International.
approach still "very promising"
Truvada is a combination of two drugs, tenofovir and emtricitabine, or FTC, marketed by Gilead Sciences for some time based in California, for treatment HIV.
drug use remain "very promising," said Mastro, although the risks may vary according to gender and how the virus spreads Through risky sex such as anal sex between men or between heterosexual .
Last year, a study in South Africa found that a vaginal gel compound with large doses of tenofovir had shown impressive anti-HIV activity, reducing by half the likelihood of risk for a woman contracted HIV from an infected partner . The protection was greatest for those who used it correctly.
A similar effect was observed in the study of Truvada in men gays.El drug reduced the chances of infection from 44% to 73% or more among men who took the pills so regular.Los Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently advised U.S. doctors about prescribing Truvada with other prevention services for gay, based on these encouraging results. The Dr. Robert M.
Grant of the Gladstone Institutes, (a private company affiliated with the University of California at San Francisco) who led the study of Truvada in the gay population, said, "we are confident that this approach is useful for them."
Following the cancellation of this study is difficult entender donde vieron la protección" ,el doctor Robert M. Grant ,dijo que la muestras de sangre pueden proporcionar más información acerca de si la ineficacia del fármaco está relacionada con la regularidad con que las mujeres lo tomaron .
El director de AVAC Mitchell Warren, la organización que busca una vacuna contra el sida, señala que estos resultados deben "ser vistos como lo que son: la interrupción de un ensayo en un campo que ha generado interesantes resultados en un pasado reciente".
Otros dos grandes estudios para comprobar la eficacia de los fármacos contra el SIDA sigue en marcha en África,se estudian a mujeres heterosexuales y parejas sentimentales donde uno tiene el virus y the other not.
studies have mostly been conducted in countries with high rates of infection, because it makes it easier to know whether the measure of prevention is having some effect.
Truvada costs $ 5,000 to $ 14,000 per year in the United States, in some poor countries, where it is available in generic form is priced at $ 140 per year.
The study was sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gilead provided the study medication.
Source: CBC News
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