PrEP drugs ‘as safe as aspirin’, study shows
Users of a pill that prevents the transmission of HIV place themselves at the same level of risk as those who take aspirin, a US study has shown.
University of California researchers Noah Kojima and Jeffrey D. Klausner measured the impact of HIV-preventative drug Truvada to aspirin, and despite varied side effects across the two drugs, found their impact on the body was largely comparable.
Known clinically as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, the common side effects for Truvada includes dizziness, vomiting, and weight loss, while users of aspirin report side effects of gastrointestinal bleeding.
“While long-term studies are needed, providers should feel reassured about the safety of short and medium-term PrEP for HIV infection,” the study concluded.
“Everyone’s got aspirin in their medicine cabinet”, Klausner told BuzzFeed News.
“But as a physician I’ve seen people come into the hospital and die from aspirin overdoses – people can be allergic,” he said.
Truvada, which has been shown to have roughly 92% efficacy in preventing HIV transmission, is only prescribed to some 21,000 patients in the US, BuzzFeed reports.
It is estimated up to 1.2 million people would be at enough risk of HIV infection to receive a prescription for the drug, which was approved by the FDA back in 2012.
Yet Klausner added a large level of ambivalence and lack of awareness of its benefits from within the medical community has stopped Truvada from being prescribed more frequently. “A lot of the concerns I hear from providers are about safety,” he said.
“There have been continued voices saying, ‘Wouldn’t it just be better if people used condoms, or reduced their number of partners?’ Those are important strategies, but they don’t work for everyone.”
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