HIV drug -- putting the new findings in perspective

HIV drugs given prophylactically can significantly reduce the risk of infection, a new clinical trial says. Those findings, announced Tuesday, have been the talk of the country for the past two days. Now comes the time to reflect on the findings.

Here’s the original Los Angeles Times story “Pill shows a drop of up to 70% in HIV infection” and a related blog post “Preventing HIV with drugs: What now?” in case you somehow missed the news.

An editorial published along with the study in the New England Journal of Medicine gets the ball rolling. Dr. Michael Nelson and U.S. Army colonel at Walter Reed Army Medical Center writes:

“What will be the public health effect of these results? The overall reduction in HIV incidence in the FTC–TDF group was less than 50%. Although increased medication adherence would raise this degree of protection (along with the risk of potential side effects), what is the likelihood that such a regimen could be accomplished in an implementation program that lacks the intense reinforcement of adherence counseling provided in the context of a clinical trial?”

One anti-AIDS group in San Francisco welcomes the news but points to lack of education and access to healthcare as the culprits that contribute to higher infection rates, as this Associated Press story says.

There are bound to be more questions and opinions as this new treatment plays out.