Source: Letters to the Editor
By: Kora Peters
Let’s help prove condomless sex doesn’t have to be unprotected sex and help make a safer tomorrow for everyone!
As we all know the adult industry and many of their top performers have been fighting against the use of condoms in porn. Many of the top performers have stated that they don’t want condoms in porn because they pose a health risk all their own. So, it would stand to reason that the adult industry would be all for the use of PrEP drugs to prevent the transmission of HIV and keep performers safe.
I have emailed Diane Duke several times to no avail about the usefulness of PrEP in the adult industry as an alternative to condoms. Since I keep getting the “dead end” treatment with Diane Duke, FSC, and Pass I am appealing to the performers themselves to step up and help prove that condomless sex doesn’t have to be unsafe sex.
We have a unique opportunity to be a part of a clinical trial for new PrEP drugs that could save the lives of millions of people, not to mention make the adult industry a safer place to work. The ECLA is conducting clinical trials for new PrEP and needs 15 women to be a part of this exciting new study. The study will be conducted at the UCLA Care Center – – at 1399 S. Roxbury Drive #100 – – right on the corner of Pico and Roxbury (Century City/Beverly Hills). Here are some links and information about the study:
www.nextprepstudy.org/about.html
www.uclahealth.org/site.cfm?ID=1953
betablog.org/next-prep-a-new-study-of-maraviroc-for-HIV-prevention/
www.hptn.org/research_studies/hptn069.asp
HPTN 069 is a study for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention which is studying the safety of some alternatives to Truvada-based prep. All the drugs are FDA approved to Treat (fight) HIV, but only the Truvada is approved (Right now!) to prevent HIV. It’s specifically looking at a drug called Maraviroc (Selzentry) which prevents HIV from getting into cells in the first place. The study lasts for 49 weeks, and people are seen mostly every 2 months while on the study (it’s more at the beginning, and then tapers off). People take 3 pills per day (some are active pills, and some are sugar (“placebo”) pills – but each set of 3 has at least one active drug in it that fights HIV, so no one is getting Nothing. We won’t know and the participants won’t know which ones are real and which are placebo until the very end of the study. People get paid $25 per visit (once they start the medicaiton – so not at the very first “screening” visit), $100 for each of 4 cervical biopsies, and $25 for answering a week’s worth of text messages about once per month (it’s a random week each month or so while on the study). The total amount you could make if you did all the assessments is between $800 and $900 (it’s not exact because the number of text messages is random). The big thing to be careful about is that you can’t have sex for a week before or a week after the vaginal biopsies, which happens 4 times – – at the very beginning, at 6 months in, and Twice at the very end. So people would have to make sure their work schedules allowed for that. Of course, people have to be HIV negative, and Std testing is provided as part of the study at regular intervals (treatment is not provided, but we have linkages with places that treat for free, so no worries about that piece).
In conclusion, female adult performers can help make tomorrow a safer place for everyone and of course be compensated for your time. There are males in the study too but they have enough volunteers already from the men (not in our industry), so I am asking you ladies to step up and lead the way!
