First author of the Kaiser study, Jonathan Volk, MD, MPH, echoes Lehmiller’s sentiment, warning that no method is foolproof and that Truvada “is one more tool, one more option to prevent the transmission of HIV.”
While most Truvada users are men who have sex with men, the study underscored the importance of the drug for other high-risk individuals, including people with an HIV-positive partner and people who engage in sexual activity with sex workers, IV drug users, or those incarcerated, among others.
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Bobby Dempsey, 28, started taking Truvada three months ago.
“It seemed silly not to, as a single gay guy,” Dempsey, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, said. “I honestly look at it exactly like birth control. I try to be as safe as possible, but slip-ups will always happen. I want to do everything I can to keep myself safe.”
Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT-S, the senior vice president of clinical development for Elements Behavioral Health, said it’s difficult to make good decisions in the heat of the moment, so Truvada is an ideal backup in those spontaneous cases or when a condom breaks.
“Nobody can predict how they are going to act when they are in an extremely passionate, distracting situation,” said Weiss. “What a great opportunity to ensure your health.”
Jermaine Holliway, a 34-year-old single man living in Manhattan, said he has plans to ask at an upcoming doctor’s appointment about PrEP as a potential tool in his safe-sex arsenal
“I’m not going in with the misconception that I can’t catch anything else,” he said. “It’s just one more thing I want to be precautious with. There are times when there are lapses in judgment – I’m not going to lie. It’s behavior that happens anywhere, this would just be with less of a guilty conscious.“
Even if PrEP were to decrease condom use, sex experts are confident that PrEP will not make users more promiscuous. This has been a common concern since Truvada was approved for prevention, with the label “Truvada Whore” directed at users.
“I don’t think it’s going to encourage people to have casual sex who are not already doing it,” Lehmiller said. “People are not going to have casual sex based on whether or not they are going to get HIV.”
