The U.S. FDA approved Gilead Sciences' Descovy for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, among male adults and adolescents who are HIV-negative and considered to be at risk for sexually acquired HIV.
The approval does not include use of the drug by women to prevent HIV infection.
Descovy, a combination drug, was approved in 2016 to treat people already infected with HIV. It contains a newer formulation of a drug used in Gilead’s older medication, Truvada, which was approved for PrEP in 2012.
Gilead aims to transition PrEP use from Truvada to Descovy before the older drug loses patent protection next year.
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