More and More Americans Use PrEP

Now more than 135 000 people in the USA use PrEP as an HIV preventative measure; it is Truvada drug, which was approved by the FDA five years ago. Investigators from Gilead Sciences company had analyzed the data of 83 percent of Truvada prescriptions and announced their findings at the 9th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science in Paris (IAS 2017).

The number of people taking PrEP grows each season of the year, as we can see on the graphics presented at the conference. The biggest part of individuals at high risk of becoming HIV-positive belong to MSM community and are older than 25 years old. Preventative care is also needed by the younger generation because according to the full report of the Gilead investigators only in the 2014 year more than 30 percent of new cases of HIV transmission happened to the youngsters between 13 and 24 years.

People of different nationalities and races wish to protect themselves from HIV transmission, as we can see from the report more than 70 percent of patients with PrEP prescription are white, 13 percent — Latino, 10 percent — Black and four percent — Asian.

Gilead researchers concluded that the barriers to greater use of PrEP among women and youngsters at high risk of becoming HIV-positive should be explored.