Antiretrovirals are the cornerstone of strategies to prevent HIV transmission as:

• antiretroviral treatment (ART) to reduce the infectiousness of HIV infected persons and
• oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for uninfected persons with repeated and ongoing HIV exposurE

While the World Health Organisation (WHO) is poised to recommend coformulated lamivudine-tenofovir (3TC/TDF) as an alternative PrEP regimen, it has not been used for HIV prevention in any setting, and its use and effectiveness have not been established. 

MakSPH plans to conduct an openlabel pilot prospective observational study among high-risk heterosexual African HIV serodiscordant couples to evaluate uptake, adherence and drug blood levels of 3TC/TDF PrEP as a bridge to ART. The hypothesis is that FTC and 3TC will have similar adherence and effectiveness, which will help advance the use of PrEP among HIV serodiscordant couples and other key populations.

This will be the first ever study of 3TC/TDF PrEP