The Issue
A division of Johnson & Johnson has asked federal regulators to grant full approval to an HIV drug designed to treat patients who have stopped responding to other treatments.
The Food and Drug Administration gave Intelence preliminary approval in January under its accelerated approval program, which allowed J&J to market the drug. In order to gain full approval, FDA required the company to submit follow-up data on the drug's effectiveness.
Data submitted by J&J's Tibotec unit showed that 60 percent of patients taking the drug for four months had undetectable levels of HIV in their blood compared with 39 percent of patients taking a placebo.—Gay.com
My Issue
Lets not get all excited … not just yet anyway! We are certainly making great strides in medicine, particularly in the area of HIV/AIDS. The Johnson and Johnson study is very promising and hopefully it will be successful. However, don’t let this bit of news mislead you!
Having “undetectable Levels in your blood” is not the same as being HIV negative. This simply means that when tested you will not pop positive for HIV … that’s all! Therefore, just because one states or claims to be “undetectable” is not the same as being HIV negative ... you are still infected with the virus! And this virus can still be transmitted through sperm (oral, anal, and vaginal sex), as well as blood (broken or torn skin in the mouth, rectum, or virgina).
Safe sex should always be practiced with whomever you are sexually active with, unless you are proof positive that your partner is not engaging in sexual activities with multiple partners or outside of the relationship, and even then, be careful … be VERY careful. The only insurance you have in knowing for sure that you or someone is HIV negative is being tested. There is still NO CURE for AIDS.
A division of Johnson & Johnson has asked federal regulators to grant full approval to an HIV drug designed to treat patients who have stopped responding to other treatments.
The Food and Drug Administration gave Intelence preliminary approval in January under its accelerated approval program, which allowed J&J to market the drug. In order to gain full approval, FDA required the company to submit follow-up data on the drug's effectiveness.
Data submitted by J&J's Tibotec unit showed that 60 percent of patients taking the drug for four months had undetectable levels of HIV in their blood compared with 39 percent of patients taking a placebo.—Gay.com
My Issue
Lets not get all excited … not just yet anyway! We are certainly making great strides in medicine, particularly in the area of HIV/AIDS. The Johnson and Johnson study is very promising and hopefully it will be successful. However, don’t let this bit of news mislead you!
Having “undetectable Levels in your blood” is not the same as being HIV negative. This simply means that when tested you will not pop positive for HIV … that’s all! Therefore, just because one states or claims to be “undetectable” is not the same as being HIV negative ... you are still infected with the virus! And this virus can still be transmitted through sperm (oral, anal, and vaginal sex), as well as blood (broken or torn skin in the mouth, rectum, or virgina).
Safe sex should always be practiced with whomever you are sexually active with, unless you are proof positive that your partner is not engaging in sexual activities with multiple partners or outside of the relationship, and even then, be careful … be VERY careful. The only insurance you have in knowing for sure that you or someone is HIV negative is being tested. There is still NO CURE for AIDS.
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