Drug users who "shoot up" could now cut their risk of contracting HIV in half by simply taking the antiretroviral tablet called tenofovir disoproxil fumarate every day, according to Medical News Today.
This was the first study that looked into ways to prevent the spread of HIV among drug users.
"[This is a] significant step forward for HIV prevention. We now know that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can work for all populations at increased risk for HIV," said Jonathan Mermin, M.D., director of CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
In the study led by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2,411 male and female drug users in Thailand were observed for four years.
Half of the participants were given a placebo, while the other half took the actual drugs. The subjects were then tested for HIV on a monthly basis.
Thirty-three people in the control group were diagnosed with HIV by the end of the study, only 17 subjects who had been taking the antiretroviral pills had contracted the disease.
The study concluded those who followed the daily pill regimen strictly got the best results. When the drug was taken on a daily basis, the chance of contraction HIV was reduced by 74 percent, but even those who hadn't followed it as strictly had 48.9 percent less of a chance.
"This study completes the picture of PrEP efficacy for all major HIV risk groups - we now know that pre-exposure prophylaxis can be a potentially vital option for HIV prevention in people at very high risk for infection, whether through sexual transmission or injecting drug use," said Dr. Michael Martin, Chief of Clinical Research for the Thailand Ministry of Public Health.
Tenofovir, which is often distributed as a vaginal gel, had already been proven to protect from sexually-transmitted HIV, but this study showed it can be effective in preventing HIV in drug users as well.
Professor Salim Karim, Director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), warned that while this new drug will help prevent HIV, taking other protective measures is still important.
"The introduction of PrEP for HIV prevention in injecting drug users should be considered as an additional component to accompany other proven prevention strategies like needle exchange programs, methadone programs, promotion of safer sex and injecting practices, condoms, and HIV counseling and testing," she said.
