US to roll out repurposed antibiotic to prevent sexually transmitted infections

The United States will roll out a decades-old antibiotic repurposed as a preventive pill which will boost its long fight against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). According to a report by the news agency AFP on Friday (August 11), DoxyPEP,or doxycycline has been found to significantly cut the risk of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis when used after sex without protection.

The report said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will need to weigh the need to contain record-high rates of STIs impacting millions of American citizens against potentially giving rise to more antibiotic-resistant strains.

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"Innovation and creativity matter in public health, and more tools are desperately needed," senior CDC official Jonathan Mermin told AFP.

Which groups will the preventive pill target?

The AFP report said that DoxyPEP will target most at-risk groups of gay men and transgender women with histories of prior infection. As the word is spreading, some clinics are already prescribing the pill.

Malik, a 37-year-old man in Washington, said his doctor recently told him he could start using doxycycline as a "morning-after pill" following risky sex, something he had to do twice.

The efficacy trials

The report said researchers found DoxyPEP efficacious in three of four trials. "What we found was there was about a two-thirds reduction in sexually transmitted infection every three months," Annie Luetkemeyer, who co-led a US trial, told the news agency.

Researchers recruited 500 people in San Francisco and Seattle among communities of men who have sex with men and transgender women. Efficacy was greatest for chlamydia and syphilis, both of which were reduced by about 80 per cent, while for gonorrhoea it was about 55 per cent.

However, there were few side effects.

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