Truvada as a Strategy to Prevent Transmission of HIV - Essay Example

Truvada as a Strategy to Prevent Transmission of HIV Truvada is a drug that is manufactured by Gilead Sciences that has been approved as a means of reducing HIV infection among those HIV negative individuals who are at a high risk of getting infected. It is a drug which has to be taken in daily doses, as it has been proven to reduce the risk of infection for those individuals who are exposed to the virus. In a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) regimen, truvada has to be used alongside other methods of prevention which include protected sex, counseling to ensure the reduction of risk, as well as regular testing for HIV so that individuals can be aware of their status. Truvada is a drug which was approved mainly as a means of reducing HIV infection, because of the increasing prevalence of the rates of infection. Before the introduction of truvada into the market, there were about fifty thousand new infections of HIV among the adults and teenagers in the United States and this was despite the general accessibility of the means of prevention as well as the various means of educating, testing, and caring for those people who had been infected with the virus. Truvada was therefore introduced mainly because of the need to increase the means of treating the epidemic as well as the development of more methods of prevention. This drug, the first of its kind to be approved by the FDA, has given new confidence for those individuals who are at high risk of getting infected (Auerbach, 2010) and this, it is hoped, will be the first step towards the development of better means of prevention, not only in the United States, but elsewhere as well. Many reputable medical research institutions such as the Harvard Medical School have taken a favorable view of truvada, stating that in the current world, it is the best means of ensuring HIV prevention. However, they have also emphasized that the use of this drug for the purpose of prevention is still at its early stages. While this has been the case, this drug has the potential of helping people since most of the controlled trials that have been conducted have shown that it decreases the incidences of HIV (Grant et al, 2010). However, the fact that it can prevent HIV incidents to a certain extent does not necessarily mean that it is a hundred percent preventative. In the trials of truvada that have been conducted have shown that in general, it is a safe drug which can be tolerated by many individuals, but this has not been the case in a minority of individuals who have ended up showing various side effects (Holmes, 2012). There have also developed concerns about the ability of those HIV patients with high risk to continuously take truvada on a daily basis, and this is based on the fact that if it is not taken on a daily basis, then there is a reduction in its efficiency. In addition, there has been some concern that in some individuals who have contracted HIV, the poor adherence to the consumption of truvada may lead to the development of HIV infections in their partners as well as strains of HIV which are resistant to the drug (Thaczuk et al, 2011). Therefore, in the use of truvada, it has been found that it is necessary for healthcare provider to ensure that they establish the reasons behind the motivations of their patients to use this drug. In addition, because of its relative recent entrance into the HIV prevention market, it is important for the healthcare providers to find out if their patients are willing to be monitored to ensure that the effectiveness of the drug is determined. Patients have to be made to understand that truvada, while it helps in the prevention of HIV infection to a certain extent, is not a vaccine, but a dedication by the patient to take the drug on a regular basis to ensure that there is some level of protection against infection. Quite a number of medical specialists as well as clinical pharmacists were at first skeptical concerning the effectiveness of the drug, but the results of the trials conducted gave them confidence in the administering of truvada on their patients. It is now believed that truvada, taken with absolute dedication by the patient, has a very high ability of ensuring that there is a significant reduction in the levels of the transmission of HIV, meaning that there is also a reduction of the development of AIDS infections (Dolgin, 2011). While this may be the case, however, it is common practice in many clinics not to administer truvada on those patients who are HIV positive, especially in PrEP situations. Thus, there has been a recognition that more education concerning the use of truvada for PrEP has to be conducted so that individuals can be able to recognize the duration of prescription, the risk factors involved in the use of the drug, as well as adherence to it and monitoring the drug’s effectiveness. Statistics have shown that slightly over 1700 people were given prescriptions for truvada from 2011 to March 2013, a number which many would consider to be very low indeed. However, it has been found that this drug is also given to a much larger number than mentioned above and this is done normally through current clinical trials that are taking place all over the country. While this may be the case, however, it has been found that treatment using truvada can be extremely expensive, especially for those who do not have insurance. The estimated cost of treatment using truvada per annum is $13,000, and it is for this reason that its use in PrEP is not easily accessible for those who would actually need it the most. Despite the fact that most of the insurance companies in America provide cover for the acquisition of truvada by patients, if an individual has a high insurance plan, then affordability becomes an issue. Thus, in some instances, the physician, before prescribing the drug to his patient, has to get approval with the patient’s insurance company to make sure that the latter is able to provide cover for the drug. Despite this being the case, truvada can be considered to be quite affordable for those people in the United States who have insurance cover, but this more often than not also requires them to be quite motivated consumers of the drug (Auerbach, 2010). In this case, therefore, it can be said that affordability may not be an issue because the consumption of the drug normally requires the dedication of the patient. There has, over the years, developed an agreement in the medical community that there has been a rise in risky sexual behavior within the population. This situation has made it necessary to ensure that there is more education concerning the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS. Pharmaceutical companies such as Gilead Sciences has provided grants for research and education for the purpose of finding effective ways through which comprehensive prevention can be achieved. To this end, educational materials concerning prevention have been developed and distributed to communities with high risks of infection, and this has been with the intention of informing these communities concerning truvada and its usage (Stemple, 2008). This has, however, not been done to encourage these people to become regular users of truvada for PrEP, but as a means of letting them know more about it so that they do not use the drug in ignorance. People have to be made aware that the use of truvada does not necessarily mean it is the answer for some of them. Research conducted by various institutions has found that most individuals are never comfortable talking about their sexual activity with their physicians and this is the reason why it should not be given to just anybody. Truvada, it is recommended, should only be given to those individuals who have unprotected sex unprotected sex on a regular basis or if they have partners who are infected with HIV, to act as a preventative measure. It has been found that since most individuals are not comfortable discussing their sexual activities with their physicians, it is often extremely difficult for them to ask for truvada as a measure of protecting themselves from HIV infection. Therefore, it can be said that truvada is a drug which has been found to be quite effective in helping in the prevention of HIV infection. While this is the case, however, it is also necessary to note that it may have some adverse side effects on some individuals. This issue should be of great concern for medical practitioners, especially if those individuals, who are suffering side effects from the drug, are otherwise healthy. It has become necessary for more research to be conducted so that the side effects related to this drug can be reduced drastically because currently, it is the only drug which can guarantee the reduction of the rates of new HIV infections. It is also necessary for the society to be well informed concerning the availability of this drug because ignorance concerning it would not be helpful in the fight against HIV and AIDS. References Auerbach, J.D. (2010). The iPrEx Results: Lifting Hopes, Raising Questions. BETA. 22(4):47-9. Dolgin, E. (2011). Trial success spurs planning for rollout of HIV prevention pills. Nature Medicine, 17(4), 392. Grant, R. M,M.D., M.P.H., Lama, J. R,M.D., M.P.H., Anderson, P. L., PharmD., McMahan, V., B.S., Liu, A.Y.,M.D., M.P.H., Vargas, L., Glidden, D. V., PhD. (2010). Preexposure chemoprophylaxis for HIV prevention in men who have sex with men. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363(27), 2587-99. Holmes, D. (2012). FDA paves the way for pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis. The Lancet, 380(9839), 325. Stemple, L. (2008). Health and human rights in today’s fight against HIV/AIDS. NIH Public Access, 22(2), S113 – S121. Thaczuk, D. et al. (2011). A Practical Guide to HIV Drug Treatment for People Living with HIV. CATIE. Read More