(CNN) -- A drug already approved for treatment of AIDS might one day be approved for prevention of the deadly disease in individuals at high risk. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recommended Thursday that the agency approve the drug, Truvada, for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The committee voted 19-3 in favor of approval for the prevention indication -- PrEP for HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men and 19-2 with one abstention for HIV-uninfected partners in couples where the other partner is infected. The committee recommended by 12-8 with two abstentions in favor of approving the drug for individuals who engage in risky sexual behavior that could result in their contracting the virus.
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Advisory committee recommends Truvan be approved as a preventive
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The FDA does not have to follow the recommendations of its advisory committees
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The panel looked at safety and efficacy data from 3 clinical trials
But, after assessing the data, they concluded that @placeholder is safe for men and women and effective in preventing infection.