that the risk of significant cardiovascular effects may be underestimated because of the lack of racial diversity in the Descovy PrEP trial.)
Yet despite the relative safety of Truvada , Descovy is becoming an increasingly popular PrEP option, as the conversion estimate shows. Generally, one might change regimens because of the aforementioned side effects. But only a fraction of switches from Truvada to Descovy could, based on the low incidence of such effects in the first place, be happening for these reasons. So why are so many gay men in such a rush to get on “PrEP 2.
While hard data on this trend hasn’t yet been collected, some providers have a theory: “Anecdotally, it seems that people are being switched due to a perception of improved safety with Descovy,” David Holland, an associate professor of medicine at Emory, told me. And this perception of safety—of a clear, universal “improvement” in Descovy—is, in the eyes of critics, being actively encouraged by Gilead.
Regardless of accuracy, once the “safer for everyone” meme trickles down from conferences and Gilead representatives to medical prescribers, it eventually makes its way to patients. Then, with relative ease, the notion of Descovy’s supposed side effect–related superiority spreads through social networks in conversations between friends and strangers in person and online.
that Gilead has been positioning Descovy as a “safer” Truvada for years, since the time Descovy was approved as an HIV treatment drug in 2016.. This objectively poses a huge threat to Gilead’s monopoly on the PrEP market and, therefore, its profits. Truvada costs around $1,700 per month without insurance or other assistance; Descovy costs the same. Gilead is even actively marketing Descovy on its official Truvada. Introducing Descovy about a year before generic Truvada arrives in the U.S.
Why does Descovy commercial include persons only of color in the advertisement? I have no problem with the benefit but what’s the message here with this staging?
The only reason I switched was because of elevated liver enzymes which only came down after I stopped truvada completely for 4 months. Before that I had been stable for 2.5 years on it.