FDA Approves Truvada In Fight Against AIDS Infection

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (CNN) – A breakthrough in the fight against HIV infections.  The FDA has approved a pill that can reduce a person’s risk of getting the virus.
Rob Roth has more.

Many of Dr. Shawn Hassler’s patients are HIV positive including this one.
Hassler says he has already been prescribing the drug Truvada, which is made by Gilead Sciences in Foster City and that Truvada works.
“I know for a fact that I am preventing HIV infections in high risk individuals by putting them on Truvada.”
For the first time in the 30 year history of fighting aids, the FDA approved Truvada for use by healthy, HIV negative people who engage in risky sexual, behavior or who have a partner who is HIV-infected.
“It’s a watershed moment in the fight against HIV.  Today heralds a new era in HIV prevention.”
even with the drug’s approval, health officials still urge people to use condoms.
But with more than 50-thousand people in the U.S. becoming infected with  HIV each year, they’re hoping Truvada will help stop the spread of the disease
“It is still going to take us a number of years until we get to get that vaccine that protects at high rates. In the meantime, we need lots of other tragedies and this is one of them.  But, it’s the first pill that if taken on a daily basis can prevent you from becoming HIV infected.”
but will Truvada also mean that more people will see the pills as a green light for risky sexual behavior?
“We certainly wouldn’t want anyone to go out and abandon their condom use.”

Health officials are hoping insurance will cover Truvada, which costs about a thousand dollars a month, now that it has FDA approval.