Scotland first in UK to approve anti-HIV drug

Scotland first in UK to approve anti-HIV drug

Publication date

Monday, April 10, 2017

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

Scotland first in UK to approve anti-HIV drug 

Today (Monday 10th April) Scotland becomes the first of the UK nations to approve the provision of PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis) by the NHS to prevent HIV.

Following a rigorous process the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) today announced that PrEP, the HIV prevention drug, has been deemed a cost-effective treatment to prevent the transmission of HIV and will be made available on the NHS in Scotland.

Should we worry about the effect of PrEP on STI rates?

Should we worry about the effect of PrEP on STI rates?

Prevention
One argument you see amongst those critical or worried about the introduction of PrEP is that it will result in big increases in STIs as gay and bisexual men (and indeed others at risk of HIV) throw away their condoms. But does the evidence support...

PrEPosterous gender health inequality?

PrEPosterous gender health inequality?

Prevention
HIV prevention strategies for women used to be as simple as ABC. Abstain. Be faithful. Condom use. Fortunately this retro paternalistic approach fell out of favour by the mid 2000s. It became apparent much more was needed than simplistic behavioural change messages. Jump forward 10 years and PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis) a highly effective “game changer” comes along. Women should get excited right? Well, perhaps not – it’s not yet clear if we’ll get our hands on it.

PrEP: Is it time for the UK to follow the US?

PrEP: Is it time for the UK to follow the US?

Prevention
Last week the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) issued the first formal guidelines on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a promising new way of preventing HIV transmission. PrEP involves people who do not have HIV taking a daily dose of one or two of the drugs that are used to treat HIV. Studies suggest that this can prevent transmission if the user is exposed to HIV.

PrEP is about more than condom-less sex

PrEP is about more than condom-less sex

Prevention
Last year saw a record number of gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV in the UK. 1 in 17 gay men aged 15-59 are now living with HIV, rising to 1 in 8 in London. This compares to 1 in 360 of the UK population as a whole.

PrEP - What went wrong? What should happen?

PrEP - What went wrong? What should happen?

Prevention
Rarely has a u-turn, rarely has a breach of trust, been so misleadingly announced. Reading NHS England’s press release, ‘Update on commissioning and provision of PrEP for HIV prevention’ (21 March 2016), you would think the NHS were simply clarifying progress to date and the well understood responsibilities for the commissioning of PrEP. In fact this press release was the announcement of a shocking U-turn as NHS England suddenly abandoned its own process for the approval of PrEP, just before its conclusion, with nothing to replace it bar some loose change found down the back of the sofa.