The experimental drug has only been tested for prevention in monkeys, but it completely protected them from infection in two studies reported at an AIDS conference, Fox News reports.
Until a vaccine is developed, condoms are the best way to prevent infection with the AIDS virus and many other sexually spread diseases. But not everyone uses them, or does so all the time, so public health officials have pursued other prevention options. A drug used to treat people with HIV - Gilead Science's Truvada - also is used to help prevent infection in people who don't have the virus. A big study in gay men a few years ago found it could cut this risk by up to 90 percent.
The new research tested something that could make this type of prevention much more practical - a long-acting experimental drug made by GlaxoSmithKline PLC. The studies tested it in 12 macaques exposed to a human-monkey version of HIV.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave six monkeys shots of the drug every four weeks.
The monkeys who got the fake treatment were readily infected "but the animals that received the long-acting drug remained protected," said study leader Gerardo Garcia-Lerma.
To see how long a single shot would last, they did a second study. The single shot protected 12 monkeys for about 10 weeks on average.
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