Gay men who take pills used to treat HIV infection before and after risky sex can dramatically cut their risk of contracting the virus, a groundbreaking new study has found.

For the first time, scientific findings indicate that the use of Truvada, which contains two AIDS drugs, before and after sex can have dramatic effects on the risk of contracting the disease and offer hope to men hoping to get away from taking daily pills or using condoms — although doctors still recommend those methods over any other, according to an Associated Press report.

The study was performed in France and Canada and tests “on demand” Truvada for the first time. It shows that men who didn’t have HIV were 86 percent less likely to get it than men who took dummy pills.

Dr. Scott Hammer, an AIDS specialist at Columbia University, said he was “impressed” by the response to the drug.

Truvada has shown to be helpful for people at high risk of HIV, and it can even help when the dose is skipped sometimes.

Truvada, which is Gilead Sciences’ trademark of Tenofovir/emtricitabine, used a fixed-dose combination of two drugs used to treat HIV. The Food and Drug Administration approved usage of the drug in July 2012. It includes some rare side effects, including nausea, dizziness, and loss of appetite.

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is a lentivirus that leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is when there is a progressive failure of the immune system, allowing infections and cancers to thrive unchecked in the body.

AIDS typically begins with influenza-like symptoms, followed by a long period without any symptoms. The infection progresses within the body unnoticed oftentimes, compromising the immune system and leading to infections that typically don’t cause large problems for people with properly functioning immune systems.