Facebook Ads Cause Patients to Stop, Switch HIV Prevention Drug

Some patients are discontinuing the HIV prevention drug, Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Truvada, or asking their doctors to switch them to a newer drug over safety concerns prompted by ads on social media, medical professionals and public health officials said.

The anxiety over Truvada’s safety is coming from patients who are seeing advertisements on Instagram and Facebook that could be read to imply that the drug has harmful side effects. Some examples of the ads include statements like, “Anyone who suffered Kidney or Bone Damage after Truvada/PrEP may be entitled to Financial Compensation.”

Truvada, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, ...