PrEP Reported To Be As Safe As Aspirin
The good news about Truvada/PrEP continues this week.
Researchers from UCLA, publishing in the Oxford Journal, say that PrEP, as far as they can tell, for short- to medium-term use, is as safe as over-the-counter aspirin for human consumption, and in terms of possible side effects.
As HIV Equal reports:
Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles compared five major studies on PrEP for HIV infection with two major studies on aspirin Safety. Each medication was given a score based on how numbers needed to harm (NNH), or cause a reported side effect.
The report concluded that the use of Truvada as PrEP was favorable to Aspirin in terms of safety, but that more studies on long-term use were needed. Still, those users who have engaged in short or medium term PrEP should be reassured of the drug’s safety.
Per the Oxford Journal piece, “While long-term studies are needed, providers should feel reassured about the safety of short- and medium-term PrEP.”
This news comes a few months after a three-year study of gay men taking PrEP in San Francisco that showed zero new HIV infections, and it comes after a terrific op-ed piece in adult industry publication AVN that explains in detail why the LA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been so bizarrely anti-PrEP — it all comes down to money, of course, and how much less they’ll take in at their HIV testing centers and clinics if everyone gets on PrEP. Also, executive director Michael Weinstein really hates the porn industry, for whatever reason.
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21 Comments
Mitch
January 09, 07:04This is cool. Beht how ken a brutha get his hands on summa these? #AskingForAFriend
Delle
January 09, 10:12Really? Lemme come back first, we have to book for a round table discussion! Lol
Mandy
January 09, 08:14This is all well and good. But I have to wonder if there’s PrEP medication available or even remotely obtainable for Nigerians…
Francis
January 09, 10:07Every man with him own agenda sha. $1300 a month for Truvada no be beans. Kaching! If you reduce HIV test funding, HIV begins to rise especially in places where on a good day HIV testing practices is already poor.
@Mandy e full Nigeria but it’s dedicated to HIV patients only.
Max 2.0
January 09, 10:12Dedicated to HIV patients only? Isn’t it sulpsoed to be meant for non-HIV ppl?(Their partners)?
Francis
January 09, 10:27Truvada is part of the arsenal of drugs on ground for the suppression of the HIV virus. It’s made up of two drugs only. You add a third drug on top and you have the right combination for treating HIV instead of preventing it. (highly active antiretroviral therapy)
Max 2.0
January 09, 11:17@Francis, I know its part of the nuclear arsenal used to fight it, however that $1300 price tag you put up there made it sound like an entirely different drug. How come its that expensive? I know most people with HIV won’t even be able to afford that kind of drug.
So my question is- Do people with HIV get free ART in Nigeria? Or is the price subsidized for +Ve people? And also, is the reason for the huge price tag(of PREP) because the people that its intended for are -Ve?
Francis
January 09, 11:32ART is free in Nigeria. That price is for developed countries where the drugs aren’t free and some insurance companies don’t cover it.
There used to be a subsidy on HIV drugs but it was removed by someone. Can’t remember if it was Obasanjo. Now it’s free of charge but with the way donors are abandoning ship it might soon be back to subsidy things.
I don’t think the price tag has anything to do with HIV status. Na one price for all man
Max 2.0
January 09, 10:13Good news for Truvada whores…
keredim
January 09, 10:41PrEP is ok, when used appropriately, for example an HIV negative person in a committed long term relationship with an HIV positive partner.
But we all know the makers of Truvada are pushing for it to be used beyond that for commercial gain.
They want it to replace condoms. In their studies, they conveniently ignore the rise in other STD infections preventable by the use of condoms.
PrEP is already being promoted to protect the ‘vulnerable’ in the UK. The ‘vulnerable’ being those that continuously take addictive recreational drugs to have unprotected sex. Is that the proper use of PrEP?
I wouldn’t hail this as a welcome development in HIV prevention unless used in genuine scenarios.
http://sagbachronicles.com/2015/07/04/to-prep-or-not-to-prep/
Max 2.0
January 09, 11:24They should make it cheaper if they want it to replace Condoms(which it cant btw, condoms do alot more work than HIV prevention) .And also the way the drug works is kind of inconvenient; once you start taking it, you have to keep taking it.. If you stop taking it at some point and then continue later, it loses its effectiveness.
Francis
January 09, 11:35Another wahala be say some people on it can party for all the continents combined and doing shitload of drugs and alcohol while on Truvada is a NO-NO
Michaels
January 09, 12:07The only problem I have with this drug is the side effects.
Keredim
January 09, 12:52Well apparently there are none………in the short & medium term?
Michaels
January 09, 13:48Ha. Biko are there different types of truvadas, cuz d one am taking is like whiskey?
Francis
January 09, 13:54The whiskey effect is most probably the Efavirenz unless you’re experiencing a very low documented side effect of Truvada
Michaels
January 09, 14:13Oh I see. But can d effect ever stop?
Francis
January 09, 14:39The duration of the effect varies for patients. Some never have it. Some have it for like a week or two and then it’s gone while others might take a while to shake it off.
As long as the effect is there, the rule is to take the medicine at a fixed time at night only. Once you drink the pill, you climb ya bed and sleep at once
Michaels
January 09, 14:52Alright, thanks
Francis
January 09, 14:53You’re welcome
DImkpa
January 10, 10:27I find it worrying that now there is a drug that can stop HIV transmission and potentially deal a decisive blow to the HIV pandemic, we are more concerned about how appropriately it is used in terms of limiting use to HIV Negative people who don’t fuck around or are not ‘whores’. Is this to imply that those who do not want to live the heteronormative dream of being in a relationship should not have the protection offered by this drug? In other words they should be allowed to contract the virus as punishment for their sins.
I think the only propriety that should be considered in the use of the drug is if it would be taken regularly so that it does not lose effectiveness as well as not using it together with alcohol/drugs rather than whether the individual has sex with 10 men in a month. It should be for HIV prevention and therefore should be used for those at greatest risk of contracting the virus i.e the hoes and should not be a reward for observing some arbitrary standard of morality thought up by a random person.
This is a drug that is apparently safe, guarantees no transmission of HIV and yet instead of hailing it our concern is how the whores will use it. I have not read the paper but I am sure some whores (if not a lot if the sample consisted of gay men) were part of the study and there was still no HIV transmission. Where then is the big idea of genuine scenarios coming from? This make me wonder whether there is some deep resentment amongst us for people who would have sex outside relationships. Should our main concern be the prevention of HIV or ensuring sexual fidelity?
It is true that condoms do a lot more than prevent HIV but those other illnesses are easily treated with a shot of antibiotics in one day or at worst a week or two of antibiotics. Many of us that use condoms don’t do so because we are afraid of contracting gonorrhoea, the main worry is HIV as we all know. I recall a cartoon I saw once where the days when gonorrhoea was all people had to worry about as ‘the good old days’. The other STIs are a manageable risk and in my opinion should be left to an individual to make. Condoms and PrEp are equally effective in preventing transmission, as the studies seem to suggest, and as far as I am concerned it should be a case of ‘Choose ye this day whom you will serve’
Please let’s all hail this wonder drug and may we all live long and prosper!