Gilead Sciences, Inc.'s Viread Reduces HIV Risk for Drug Users in Study

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Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD)’s Viread pill reduced the risk of injected-drug users contracting the AIDS virus by half in a study in Thailand, a finding that may give public health officials a new weapon to fight HIV’s spread. In a trial involving 2,413 HIV-negative drug users in Bangkok over five years, those who received Viread daily were 49 percent less likely to get infected with HIV than those who got a placebo, researchers from the Thai Ministry of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today in the Lancet. The findings confirm the results of earlier studies that show Foster City, California-based Gilead’s Viread and Truvada can prevent infections among people at risk of catching the virus, an approach called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. Health officials are planning pilot programs to turn the promising study into a real-world public health intervention.

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