Drug offers new way to limit spread of HIV

The market launch of a drug that prevents HIV infection, the first of its kind in China, will contribute to the fight against the AIDS disease the virus can cause, leading medical experts said.

While AIDS has become a preventable and controllable chronic disease with the development and popularization of treatment therapies during recent years, the number of new infections has been rising, experts said at the drug's market launch in China on Saturday.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published annual data in late November that says 95 percent of new HIV infections were contracted through sexual activity. Experts believe such preventative medicine will help bring down the risk of infection among the high-risk groups.

Users take a pill each day and must test negative for the virus before they start, according to the United States-based biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, which is the developer of the drug Truvada.

Wang Ning, an expert of infectious diseases with the national CDC, said the drug functions through limiting the replication of the virus in the human body and thus prevents individuals from becoming infected with HIV.

"The efficacy of the prevention drug can reach 90 percent or above under good medication compliance," he said.

Zhang Fujie, director of the Clinical and Research Center of Infectious Diseases at Beijing Ditan Hospital Affiliated with the Capital Medical University, said the medication has addressed an area of unmet need in the field of HIV prevention medicine in the country.

He also pointed out that the drug is not able to prevent other sexually transmitted diseases, and those among high-risk groups should take comprehensive strategies, including taking treatment medications, prevention drugs, and using condoms.

"Recent surveys also showed that high-risk groups hoped that such preventative drugs can be available to them through the internet or homosexual communities, rather than designated hospitals. The parties involved will discuss methods to ultimately improve drug availability and compliance," Zhang said.

In total, 1.04 million AIDS infections had been reported in China by October, which means the infectious disease has been kept at a low epidemic level for several consecutive years, according to the National Health Commission.