US experts back HIV drug for preventive treatment

The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection has won approval from experts in the United States.

An advisory committee to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended Truvada be given to healthy people at high risk of contracting HIV.

In a series of votes, the panel said it could used to treat gay and bisexual men, heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner and other groups considered at risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity.

The FDA is expected to make a decision by June 15th. It is not obliged to follow the advice but it usually does.

Truvada already has approval to treat people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Some 1.2 million Americans are HIV postive, with around 50.000 new infection cases reported each year over the past two decades.

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