Sorry Charlie: You Should’ve Taken Truvada

Here’s another reason why Gilead is probably the most undervalued and underappreciated company in the world:

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s, Truvada, or the PrEP pill, taken daily can reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV by more than 90%, and can reduce injection drug users’ risk of HIV by more than 70%.

What is PrEP/Truvada? It is an HIV prevention strategy where HIV-negative individuals take anti-HIV medications before coming into contact with HIV to reduce their risk of becoming infected.

While Truvada was approved by the FDA in 2012 for HIV prevention and in 2004 for HIV treatment, the CDC estimates that 1.2M people should be taking it to prevent infection and stop its spreading.

So why haven’t you heard about this drug?

A lot of it has to do with the lack of knowledge, or purposeful ignorance in the medical community. A CDC survey found 34% of primary care doctors and nurses have never heard of Truvada.

Another, and possibly even more bizarre, reason is critics within the LGBT community argue that those who use Truvada can sashay around town (extra pun intended) and have as much unprotected sex as they want.

They have been called “Truvada Whores”; no joke, Huffington Post has an article with this ridiculous and simple-minded categorization.

This is akin to me saying that because condoms prevent STD’s, I should never use them with a female partner because I’ll be labeled a “Trojan Whore” (extra Helen of Troy). Read a book if you didn’t get that joke.

Oh and by the way, it isn’t inconceivable that someone (straight or gay) would lie and say they don’t have an STD. A reasonably intelligent person would think to themselves that some sort of protection is prudent (see what I did there?).

Many of the readers may be thinking to themselves that isn’t this the same Gilead who jacks up the Hep C prices and makes patient access very difficult through their evil “revenue-driven” strategies (check out Gilead Findings: Government Work at its Finest)?

Given Gilead’s low-brow media perception and genius findings of Senators Wyden and Grassley, your skepticism is warranted given that Truvada treatment can run from $1,000 to $1,300 a month.

However, more significant and noble, is the fact that many insurance plans cover Truvada. Moreover, uninsured patients can get Truvada for free through Gilead’s patient assistance program. How come Tweedledee and Tweedledum didn’t mention in this government report?

If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter