New HIV Prevention Study Results Show Greater Need for Women's Research

Today’s results from the VOICE trial are disappointing, but they do not change the data that supported the  July 2012 decision by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve daily oral TDF/FTC (Truvada)  for HIV-negative women and men to reduce risk of HIV infection. The data to support this approval come from several HIV prevention clinical trials and these data are clear: those who are able to take daily TDF/FTC reduce their risk of HIV. What is not yet clear is how best to deliver this intervention and support to women interested in taking it. We need a national coordination plan for how the recently approved PrEP drug, Truvada, will be rolled out to US Women.

Please review the National Statement on US Women & PrEP, the Key Points of our position statement, and thePress Releasefor the Statement.  SisterLove and AVAC will be hosting a community discussion on these results and other HIV biomedical prevention study information that is being reported this week in Atlanta at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.  The Working Group on US Women & PrEP will be sponsoring several activities in the coming months to highlight the issues and demands expressed in the Position Statement. Please visit the following links for more information and to retrieve the statements.  Please share widely, and we welcome your comments on our social media sites: www.Twitter.com/Sisterlove_Inc,  www.Facebook.com/SisterloveInc.

Position Statement

Key Points

Press Release

If you are in Atlanta please join AVAC, SisterLove and partners at a community event tonight to discuss these results and the next steps in ARV-based prevention. Click here for more details.

Please join fellow advocates for a post-CROI webinar next Monday, March 11 at 6am US Pacific/9am US Eastern/3pm South Africa/4pm East Africa (check the time in your area at  www.timeanddate.com—and remember that the US will be on daylight savings time). You can register here, and the webinar will be recorded and archived at  www.avac.org/meetingreports. The webinar will include VOICE trial investigators and others in the field to discuss these recent results.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.