China on Tuesday approved the country’s first medication for HIV prevention before exposure. While the move is potentially a big step toward controlling the virus domestically, experts say raising awareness of the drug will be a crucial selling point.

A form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), Truvada is made by California-based pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. It works by preventing infected cells from replicating, thereby curbing the virus’ spread within the body. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration greenlighted the drug for commercial use in 2012.

According to China’s National Health Commision, over 130,000 people in the country tested positive for HIV from January to October last year, and China has over 958,000 people living with AIDS, the autoimmune disease caused by the virus.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) is a high-risk group for HIV infection in China, accounting for around one-quarter of all new infections nationwide. But based on pilot studies involving MSM in China, their awareness of using prophylactic HIV drugs is low, according to He Na, an HIV expert at Fudan University in Shanghai. Read more via Sixth Tone