By Toby Longhurst

A new drug that can help prevent HIV negative people from contracting the virus has been approved by an expert committee in the United States and is expected to be approved by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming months meaning that it would soon be available to the public.

The committee stated that taking the pill daily could spare patients "infection with a serious and life-threatening illness that requires lifelong treatment." Truvada is already commonly prescribed to people living with HIV. Pending approval, the drug could be given to people at high risk of contracting the virus in an effort to prevent them from acquiring the disease.

HIV/AIDS organisations in Australia have been following Truvada's progress closely and have called for the drug to be researched and trialled in an Australian context.

“If, as expected, the expert recommendation leads to approval by the FDA in America, it could change the lives of people living with a high-risk of HIV infection,” Australian Federation of AIDS organisations representative Rob Lake said in a statement.

“Health authorities here should ensure that Australians do not miss out on the same opportunity to reduce infection risk.”

Peter Watts, a treatments officer at Queensland Positive People told QNews that the greatest advantages would be for couples living in a poz/neg relationship.

“It would mean an immense lifting of worry for these couples,” Watts explained. “Whilst a person with HIV on treatment which drives their viral load down is a much lowered risk to their partner, if their partner was also taking a prevention treatment the risk would probably be approaching zero, although not zero exactly."

"For heterosexual couples in HIV discordant relationships this could also open the world of natural conception.”

Despite the benefits that Truvada would offer, Watts was quick to stress that it is not yet completely effective and would be best used in combination with other HIV preventative methods.

“This method, is not 100% effective like condoms are - at best the studies so far in gay men show as little as 40% effectiveness, or up to 70% effectiveness . If someone doesn’t use condoms – and considers the pill as an ‘alternative’, rather than a ‘complementary’ combined strategy – the risks could increase.

“The main issue is to use prevention methods in combination with condoms and other risk reduction strategies. The more combination strategies you use together, at any one time, the less HIV can be passed on or picked up.”

The FDA is expected to make its decision by 15 June.