Since Sunday, Mexico City hosts the tenth IAS conference, one of the largest scientific symposia on AIDS. This major event, which takes place every two years, brings together all the researchers and doctors from around the world working on this disease. All innovations and challenges for the coming years are at the center of discussions. Tuesday, a large French study called "Prevent" was presented before the entire scientific community on the interest of Prep, this preventive treatment against HIV infection, with extremely promising results.
In this study, which began in 2017, researchers followed more than 3,000 people, mostly homosexual men in Île-de-France, for three years, with so-called risky sexual behaviors. They were therefore asked to take Prep, the preventive treatment against HIV to evaluate its effectiveness. These volunteers had two options, either to take this treatment continuously, that is to say one tablet every day or on demand, that is to say two tablets just before and two others after sexual intercourse.
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Almost 100% efficiency ...
As a result, this study demonstrates that this treatment is extremely effective. It is close to 100% efficiency, says its main author, Professor Jean Michel Molina, head of the infectious diseases department at the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris.
"On more than 3,000 volunteers, we saw only two HIV infections, in two people who had interrupted the Prep several weeks before," says the specialist to Europe 1. "These are not failures related to HIV. lack of effectiveness of the Prep, but the fact that, like any means of prevention, whether it is a condom or a tablet, if you do not take it, you are not protected, "insists the specialist.
... But the Prep does not replace the condom
Another very positive point: this preventive treatment of HIV is very well tolerated by users. Of the 3,000 volunteers in this study, only three people had to stop these tablets because of digestive disorders. The WHO even spoke on the subject for the first time at this congress: the Prep must be part of AIDS prevention tools in all countries, as the condom, according to the organization. A condom that keeps its place, because the treatment protects only HIV, and not other sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis or chlamydia, a very strong increase in recent years.
Heard on europe1:
From 45,000 people under Prep, we can have a lasting effect in France
"This advance is major, because it allows to complete the tools against HIV", greets, also at the microphone of Europe 1, Aurélien Beaucamp, the president of association Aides. He believes this drug can have a real impact in the long term on the epidemic. "There must be more people under Prep, today we are at 15,000 people under Prep in France, and the theoretical models show that it is from 45,000 people that we can have a lasting effect. ", he points out, while the annual number of contaminations in France is around 6,000 cases.
Framed access for fully supported treatment
However, access to the Prep remains particularly framed by the health services. "We have an effective drug, but we do not distribute it as a sweet," Aurélien Beaucamp warns. "If you are likely to take the Prep, a procedure will accompany you: every three months, you will do a complete screening - HIV, hepatitis and STI - and you will be followed by a doctor," he explains. . The patient can also be offered the support of an association that can answer various questions about the observance of catches and the perception of risk.
Fully reimbursed in France since 2016, this drug costs 500 euros per month per person to the Social Security, against a little over 100 euros when it comes to the generic. "It's less expensive than a cure when you're infected, because here it's for life", Aurélien Beaucamp sweeps that ensures that Aides wants to maintain pressure on the laboratories, precisely to continue to lower the price of molecules.