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Research Suggests PrEP Can Reduce Risk of Acquiring HIV Infection Among Heterosexual People

July 2011

“A new CDC study called the TDF2 study, along with a separate trial, provide the first evidence that a daily oral dose of antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV infection can reduce HIV acquisition among uninfected individuals exposed to the virus through heterosexual sex.

“The CDC TDF2 study, conducted in partnership with the Botswana Ministry of Health, found that a once-daily tablet containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC, known by the brand name Truvada) reduced the risk of acquiring HIV infection by roughly 63 percent overall in the study population of uninfected heterosexual men and women. The strategy of providing daily oral antiretroviral drugs to uninfected individuals prior to HIV exposure is called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.

“In a separate announcement, the University of Washington (UW) released preliminary results of the Partners PrEP study, which also found that daily PrEP reduced HIV transmission among heterosexual couples in Kenya and Uganda. … The Partners PrEP study found that two separate antiretroviral regimens – tenofovir (known by the brand name Viread) and TDF/FTC – significantly reduced HIV transmission among serodiscordant couples, in which one partner is infected with HIV and the other is not. …

“In the wake of today’s announcements, CDC will fully review the data from all of the heterosexual trials and will begin working with a range of stakeholders and with established guidelines development working groups to develop guidance specific to the use of PrEP among heterosexual men and women in the United States. …

“For more information on efforts to evaluate and plan for PrEP implementation in the United States, visit www.cdc.gov/hiv/prep.

“For a complete list of PrEP trials being conducted, see http://www.avac.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/3113.”

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