HIV pill gets second life as a topical cream for herpes

HIV is a complex virus, that is sometimes accompanied by other infections, such as herpes. Due to this, researchers have been looking for medications that will be effective against both conditions at the same time, to limit the amount of treatments a patient has to go through. 

Recent research published in Cell Host and Microbe has shown that there may be a way to change how an anti-HIV drug is delivered so that it may be effective in treating the disease, as well as herpes simplex virus (HSV).

The scientists found that a substance called "tenofovir," which has been used as an oral medication for HIV patients, can be used in a topical cream to treat symptoms of HIV and HSV at the same time. These findings were surprising for researchers due to previous studies that showed that tenofovir had no effect on HSV.

"We hypothesized that the discrepancy between the earlier reported lack of significant anti-HSV activity and the new data might be explained by the striking differences in drug concentrations between the oral tenofovir delivery system and topical application of the gel," explained researcher professor Jan Balzarini.