Nearly two-thousand urge NHS to provide access to PrEP
Almost two thousand people have signed a statement encouraging the NHS to introduce PrEP for people at risk of contracting HIV.
PrEP has been found in two major European studies to dramatically reduce the risk of HIV transmission.
The drugs have been available in the US since 2012, but are currently only available in the UK to those who were enrolled on the PROUD study.
The statement reads: “Two European studies of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), PROUD 1 and IPERGAY2, reported early results in October 2014. Both studies showed that PrEP was so effective at preventing HIV transmission that everyone in these studies has now been offered PrEP. The comparison arms, which respectively offered delayed PrEP or a placebo, have been closed. In light of this news, together with data on continued high rates of new infections3, the NHS urgently needs to make PrEP available.
“Although an NHS England process to evaluate PrEP is underway, any decision to provide PrEP will probably not be implemented until early 2017, which is too long to wait. We are calling for earlier access to PrEP. The NHS must speed up its evaluation process and make PrEP available as soon as possible. Furthermore, we call for interim arrangements to be agreed now for provision of PrEP to those at the highest risk of acquiring HIV.”
1.803 people have signed up to support the PrEP Access statement, to encourage PrEP to be available in the UK.
A study into the effectiveness of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in the UK earlier this year found that the risk of HIV infection was reduced by 86%.
