AIDS scientists on Monday halted a
study in Africa intended to find out whether a daily
antiretroviral pill can prevent women from becoming
infected with the AIDS virus. Early data showed no
evidence that the pill was working. Women taking Truvada,
were just as likely as those taking a placebo to become
infected, according to an independent panel that
analyzed the results after the study had enrolled about
half the 4,000 women researchers had hoped to enlist. Of
the 1,900 women taking Truvada or a placebo, 28 in each
group had become infected as of last week, according to
FHI, formerly Family Health International, the nonprofit
group that was conducting the study in South Africa,
Kenya and Tanzania.
Two other studies of what is
called “pre-exposure prophylaxis” in women are still
under way in Africa. The results are expected over the
next two years. Last November, it was found that Truvada
protected gay men against infection. Men who took their
pills faithfully were shown to have better than 90
percent protection, a result hailed as a breakthrough
for AIDS prevention. In another study published last
summer from South Africa, a vaginal gel containing
tenofovir, one of the two antiretroviral drugs in
Truvada, reduced the chances of infection by 54 percent
in the women who used it faithfully before and after
sex.
