The NHS is being urged to allow patients a daily pill which could save it millions of pounds by dramatically reducing the chance of them contracting HIV.
The anti-viral drug has been found to prevent HIV infection in hundreds of healthy gay men, scientists revealed, adding that the NHS 'cannot afford' to ignore the breakthrough.
Daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) treatment stopped transmission of the virus to men in the high-risk group.
Scientists at the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center said their study marks the first and largest published evaluation of the drug in a clinical setting.
Over the course of 32 months researchers examined 657 people who were started on a PrEP treatment plan and found not one of them developed HIV during the course of the study.
Previous clinical trials of the drug suggested it had a prevention rate of about 86 percent, not 100 percent as the current study does.
The drug was approved for daily use in combination with safer sex practices, as a means of preventing HIV.
The NHS is now assessing whether it could be offered to certain high-risk groups in the UK, but studies indicate it could save the UK millions of pounds because it would lead to an expected fall in the number of people contracting HIV.
Researchers wrote in The Lancet: 'National health services are under financial constraints but they cannot afford to ignorethe results, which strongly support the addition of PrEP to the current standard of prevention for men who have sex with men at risk of HIV infection.'
The Independent reports the drug could save the NHS £500million over 80 years.
When someone is exposed to HIV through sexual activity or injection drug use, Truvada can keep the infection from becoming permanent.
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