A new study shows that Truvada doesn't work the same way in everyone.
A new study has found that women need a higher dose of Truvada than men in order to prevent HIV infection.
The findings, published by North Carolina University in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, found that men need just two doses per week, while women require a daily dose to be protected, according to a UPI report.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed off on Truvada back in 2012 as an effective way to prevent HIV in those who have a high risk of it. It has successfully driven down the number of new infections in areas where the drug is available, according to the report.
But unfortunately, the new study indicates that it doesn’t work equally in everyone. Researchers provided Truvada to 47 healthy women and then took a variety of samples from different places on their body to test for levels of the drugs. They found less of the drug in the vaginal and cervical tissue compared to the rectal tissue, and by using a mathematical model from the experiments, they were able to determine that women need to take it daily to get the same effect as men taking it twice a week.
Nevertheless, both genders are encouraged to take the drug daily to be safe.
“Our data highlight the fact that one dose does not fit all,” said Angela Kashuba, Pharm.D., senior author of the study and the John and Deborah McNeill Distinguished Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, in a statement. “In determining how best to use drugs to protect people from HIV, we need to understand where in their body they are at risk for being infected, along with the concentration of drug that is needed to protect that site from infection.”
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