NIH study finds mothers’ use of tenofovir tied to lower bone mineral content in newborns

Infants exposed in the womb to a drug used to treat HIV and reduce the transmission of HIV from mother to child, may have lower bone mineral content than those exposed to other anti-HIV drugs, according to a US National Institutes of Health study.

Researchers found that pregnant women who received the drug tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in their third trimester gave birth to babies whose bone mineral content was 12% lower than that of infants who were not exposed to the drug in the uterus. Proper mineral content helps strengthen normal bones. The Study appears in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

“At this point, we can say that those who care for pregnant women with HIV and their children should be aware that prescribing tenofovir to pregnant women could be a concern for their infants’ bones,” said George Siberry, the first author of the study and medical officer with the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Tenofovir is the active ingredient in Gilead Sciences’ HIV drug Viread.