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‘On-demand’ rectal microbicide gel has reasonable tolerability and acceptability – daily less so
Gus Cairns, 2016-02-28 16:10:00

Results from the MTN-017 study of 1% tenofovir gel as a rectal microbicide were presented to the CROI 2016 conference on Wednesday. The study compares the safety and acceptability of oral tenofovir/emtricitabine (Truvada) PrEP with the rectal gel either in daily use or used before and after the participant has anal sex as the receptive partner.

The study found that the rate of adverse events of any severity was exactly the same as in oral PrEP for daily use, and somewhat lower during occasional use. However, though participants rated the gel as almost as easy to use as oral PrEP, and said that they would be willing to use the gel again during sex (though not daily), there was no disguising the fact that, if offered the choice between the gel and the pill as the one PrEP method they could use, most participants would choose the pill.

The encouraging safety and adherence results, however, may help this product move further towards a full acceptability study.

Source:1