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Drugs Give New Hope To AIDS Prevention
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A promising new study suggests that it might be possible to take one pill a day to reduce the risk of HIV transmission.
Here's the finding: a drug taken before unprotected sex could prevent people from becoming infected with HIV. You might think of it as a birth control pill for men, although this would prevent you from getting a disease instead of preventing you from having a baby. And while this is reason for celebration in the medical world, it's not without controversy.
The study in last week's New England Journal of Medicine showed that men who took the daily pill were 44 percent less likely to become infected with HIV than men who were given a placebo. Boston's Fenway Health was one of the health centers involved in conducting the study. We'll speak with the president and CEO of Fenway Health, as well as with one of the researchers involved.
Fenway Health hosts a forum on the new development tonight at 6 p.m.
Guests:
- Dr. Stephen Boswell, president and CEO, Fenway Health
- Dr. Kenneth Mayer, medical research director, the Fenway Institute at Fenway Health
- Michael Shankle, director of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Health at the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts
This segment aired on December 1, 2010.