UNAIDS welcomes US approval of drug to stop HIV

to the virus”, UNAIDS said in a statement from its Geneva headquarters.
Since 2004, the combination of drugs contained in the pill — emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate — has been used to help those with HIV, but not to protect against infection, the agency said.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the pill — known as Truvada — on Monday based on results from clinical trials which found that a daily oral dose of tenofovir, or emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, carried significant preventative benefits, UNAIDS said.
HIV prevention of this kind is called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which the FDA approved as part of a wider HIV prevention strategy that includes condom use and other safer sex practices, risk reduction counselling and control of other sexually transmitted infections. — AFP.