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PrEP works for injecting drug users too
Roger Pebody, 2013-06-13 22:40:00
A daily tablet of tenofovir, a drug otherwise used to treat HIV infection, reduced the risk of HIV acquisition among people who inject drugs by 49 per cent in a clinical trial. Those who took the medication most consistently had higher levels of protection, report scientists from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in The Lancet today.
These findings from Thailand come from the only pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) trial ever conducted with injecting drug users, and show that PrEP can reduce infections associated with sharing injection equipment as well as sexual transmission among drug users.
Incidence was 0.35 per 100 person years in the PrEP group and 0.68 per 100 person years in the placebo group, representing a 48.9% reduction in infections.
The data reinforce previous findings on PrEP’s efficacy in men who have sex with men and heterosexual serodiscordant couples. “This is a significant step forward for HIV prevention,” commented Jonathan Mermin of the CDC. “We now know that PrEP can work for all populations at increased risk for HIV.”
The CDC have issued interim guidance recommending that PrEP is provided to injecting drug users who are at high risk of acquiring HIV, as part of a comprehensive package of prevention services.
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