Conditions: HIV Infection
Keywords: HIV, PrEP, FTC/TDF, Truvada®
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 78
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
Approximately 100 HIV-uninfected YMSM at high risk of acquiring HIV infection, between the ages of 15 and 17 inclusive will be enrolled across all participating Adolescent Medicine Trial Units (AMTUs). Subjects will complete the behavioral intervention selected by all participating sites, Personalized Cognitive Counseling (PCC), and will then be provided with open label emtricitabine (FTC)/tenofovir (TDF) (Truvada®) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Behavioral and biomedical data will be collected at baseline and at 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks. Any subject who becomes HIV infected during the course of the study will be discontinued from the study agent and be followed for an additional 24 weeks after the study visit at which HIV infection is confirmed. Those subjects who meet specific bone or renal criteria at the Week 48 visit or the 24-Week HIV Seropositive visit will be followed for an additional 48 weeks in the Extension Phase to monitor longer-term outcomes of potential concerns.

Detailed description:
The aims of the study are to obtain additional data on the safety of FTC/TDF (Truvada®) and to evaluate acceptability, patterns of use, rates of adherence, and measured levels of drug exposure when YMSM are provided with open label FTC/TDF (Truvada®) and information regarding safety and efficacy of FTC/TDF (Truvada®) as PrEP based on prior studies in adults. The study will also examine patterns of sexual risk behavior among HIV-uninfected YMSM in the U.S. at high risk of acquiring HIV infection who are provided with open label FTC/TDF (Truvada®) as PrEP. The study will also explore the feasibility and acceptability of implementing an efficacious risk reduction behavioral intervention prior to the provision of PrEP- PCC. The inclusion of a behavioral intervention in this project not only addresses the ethical responsibility of providing at least the minimum risk reduction education to all subjects given the high HIV risk of the study population, but also builds behavioral skills to assist subjects in reducing their risk when not taking PrEP. Furthermore, the study will evaluate the process of protocol implementation to better understand how to best implement PrEP research and program practice at adolescent medicine sites, including an evaluation of consent procedures and the acceptability/feasibility of allowing youth minors to consent for their own participation in HIV prevention intervention, to the extent allowable by local laws and regulations, and to allow youth minor participation in a clinical trial without requiring disclosure of their sexual orientation and risk behaviors to their parents or legal guardians.

Arms:
arm 1: PCC Behavioral Intervention combined with open label FTC/TDF (Truvada®) as PrEP

Interventions: intervention 1: PCC intervention 2: Emtricitabine/tenofovir (FTC/TDF (Truvada®))
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Personalized Cognitive Counseling (PCC) is based on the Model of Relapse Prevention and Gold's Self-Appraisal of Risk Behavior. PCC is a 1-hour, single-session, individual level intervention administered by a trained counselor in a clinic setting. Counselors ask the client to recall and describe a recent encounter of unprotected anal sex with another man of unknown or sero-discordant HIV status. The client then identifies and expresses thoughts, feelings, or attitudes that might have led to the high-risk behavior. The client and counselor examine and identify thoughts that may have led the client to decide to engage in high transmission risk sex. The client and counselor agree on strategies that can be used to deal with similar situations in the future. intervention 2: All subjects will be provided with daily FTC/TDF (Truvada®) as Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for 48 weeks.

Protocol document: