PARIS - Europe's medicines watchdog said Friday it has recommended the licensing of the first-ever AIDS prevention pill for the European Union. In one study, risk was lowered by 42 percent in homosexual men, and another by 75 percent in heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner. Now the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also "recommended granting a marketing authorisation in the European Union for Truvada... for pre-exposure prophylaxis." The medicine must be used "in combination with safer sex practices to reduce the risk" of picking up HIV, it added. Yet, a study released this week said about 2.5 million people a year are still becoming infected with the AIDS-causing virus.

Source: Bangkok Post July 22, 2016 12:56 UTC