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Risk of Unprotected Sex Debated in Gilead HIV Pill Review
By Ryan Flinn and Shannon Pettypiece - May 9, 2012 9:56 AM ET


Healthy people can protect themselves from the deadly HIV virus if they take Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD)’s Truvada every day. Whether patients will is an issue dividing AIDS advocates as U.S. regulators weigh approving the pill as the first preventative measure against the disease.

Truvada is safe and effective enough as a preventative medicine, Food and Drug Administration staff concluded in a report yesterday. An advisory panel recommendation for approval, set for debate tomorrow, hinges on who would get the pill and whether patients can be educated on the importance of following through with a prescription.

Doctors say the idea is to get healthy individuals in certain high-risk groups to take a $14,000-a-year pill every day to reduce the estimated 48,000 new U.S. cases of HIV each year. Some advocates say such a medicine to prevent the virus that can be avoided with condoms may encourage unprotected sex and increase infections.

cont http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-09/risk-of-unprotected-sex-debated-in-gilead-hiv-pill-review.html?cmpid=yhoo