Wednesday marks World AIDS Day, and a recent study about an HIV pre-exposure drug may provide an equal amount of hope and difficulty for HIV prevention.

Researchers concluded that Truvada, an HIV treatment drug, reduced HIV contraction risk by almost 95 percent on subjects, all of whom were homosexual men or transgender women.

Technically known as Preexposure Chemoprophylaxis, the drug was taken by subjects daily as a form of HIV prevention.

The drug is usually used to treat patients that have already contracted the infection, but researchers wanted to see if Truvada could be used as a preventative measure rather than a treatment.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted on 2,499 individuals.

Of these subjects, 36 people on the drug contracted HIV.

According to researchers, this indicates the drug reduces the risk of HIV by 44 percent.

Subjects who took the pill daily without fail — recorded through their blood tests ­­— reduced their risk of HIV contraction by almost 95 percent.

But these numbers do not account for high-risk behavior, said Mike Benner, programs director for the Greater Community AIDS project in Champaign.

Although the study showed the drug to be effective, Benner said contraceptives are still necessary to prevent HIV for individuals who will not take the medication religiously, and he said he is concerned that people will lessen the use of condoms.

“I think that people will not see it as an issue. They might say, ‘We can go to the doctor and take this, and everything will be fine,’” Benner said.

The cost of the drug may make it less accessible to the public, said Jeffery Erdman, HIV prevention lead agent at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District.

He said costs for the drug add up to about $12,000 a year per person.

“For one (AIDS charity) agency, $12,000 might be their whole budget. I think it really raises a question of, ‘Which one patient do we give this money to?’” Erdman said.

Benner said it will be difficult for insurance companies to cover the costs of the drug, and that more cost-effective ways, such as wearing a condom, can reduce HIV risk on its own.

Also, new strains of the HIV retrovirus may evolve and gain resistance to the drug should Truvada be administered on a large scale, Erdman said.

While a preventative drug may effectively combat HIV, Benner said there is still a long road ahead.

“There may be something out there that they can use as a preventative (measure), but there also needs to be a cure,” Benner said.