Doctors should recommend preventive medication to all patients who are at high risk of getting HIV, an influential medical panel has advised for the first time.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group of health experts, said that under the draft guidelines it issued Tuesday, as many as 1.2 million more people may take the drug called Truvada. The drug is taken once a day and carries a list price of $1,676 a month, though most private plans will cover the cost.
The recommendation could result in a big increase in the number of patients taking the medication. An estimated 78,360 took it in 2016.
Under the guidelines posted Tuesday, people are recommended to take the drug if they inject drugs, have sex with someone who might be infected, recently had another STD, or don’t use condoms consistently. Advocates hope more widespread use could result in fewer HIV infections because Truvada reduces the risk of getting HIV by about 90 percent.
Roughly 40,000 more people are infected with HIV each year, and 1.1 million are currently infected.
Scientific advances have helped turn HIV into a chronic illness in which people can take antiretroviral medications and live a normal lifespan.
While HIV has no cure, antiretrovirals suppress the virus and stop its progression to AIDS, a disease that weakens the immune system and that had reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. in the 1980s and still continues in high rates because it is left untreated around the world.
