MONDAY, Oct. 7, 2019 (HealthDay News) — A new drug to prevent HIV infection has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but its use is limited to men and transgender women.

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That’s because the drug, Descovy, was tested only in those groups, The New York Times reported.

Descovy is only the second drug approved for HIV prevention. The first was Truvada.

The FDA’s approval of Descovy does not outline a plan to make it available to women, but the FDA will require its maker, Gilead Sciences, to study the drug in women, according to company officials, The Times reported.

The FDA’s approval of Descovy could set a dangerous precedent by allowing companies to sidestep the costly trials required to test medicines in women, according to some experts.

This exclusion of women “should be unacceptable in these days and times,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, told The Times.

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