A drug to prevent HIV

For decades, the message has been that the only way to prevent HIV infection is to wear a condom every time you have sex. Jim Pickett, who heads prevention advocacy for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, says that advice will never be effective enough to eradicate the disease.

Truvada, a drug made by Gilead, was approved more than a year ago by the FDA as another option to prevent the spread of the disease. In clinical trials, it has proven more effective in protecting HIV negative people from contracting the disease than condom use, but it’s been slow to catch on. This hour on Focus, we’ll talk about Truvada, why the HIV community has been slow to embrace the drug and how new HIV prevention tools are changing the way we think about the disease. Jim Pickett of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Mike Benner, Executive Director of the Greater Community AID Foundation in Champaign join us.