Giving Thanks

I have many, many reasons to give thanks this Thanksgiving Day, some of which will be enunciated around the dinner table later today. In this post, however, I choose to give thanks to the 2,499 men who participated in a research trial testing the effectiveness of taking an anti-HIV medication to prevent HIV infection. In a major new study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, it was shown that taking a daily anti-HIV pill reduces the risk by 44% of becoming infected with HIV among gay men. This is an incredibly important finding with significant implications for HIV prevention in the 21st century. Here’s the link to a New York Times article about the study.

For this study to occur, however, men from around the world (Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the United States) had to agree to participate. This means that each participant consented to being evaluated every four weeks for several years, knowing that he had a 50% chance of being randomly assigned to the placebo group (unbeknownst to him). While all participants received safe sex education, condoms and STD treatment, as indicated, being in the placebo group meant that the individual did not receive the study medication with its potential value of preventing infection. The result is that a number of men in the placebo group became infected with HIV, some of whom very likely would not have been infected had they been selected for the treatment group. In essence, they risked their lives for the sake of health research.

While there are still many knotty issues surrounding this new HIV prevention medication (e.g., efficacy outside the group of gay men, cost, drug accessibility, and drug resistance, to name a few), it’s certainly a time for celebration and thanks. Many millions of people will benefit from the results of this study. My hat is off to all 2,499 men who participated in the study. From those of us working in the HIV/AIDS field in the past, present and future: we salute you.

-Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director