National roll-out of PrEP HIV prevention drug would be cost-effective

Providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication to men who have sex with men who are at high risk of HIV infection (equivalent to less than 5% of men who have sex with men at any point in time) in England would be cost-effective, and could help to prevent up to one in four cases of HIV, according to UCL research  The study, published in  The Lancet Infectious Diseases  journal today, finds that providing PrEP could become cost effective within 40 years of introduction, but timeframes may be even shorter if the cost of the drugs reduces as patents expire. Over 80 years, the study estimates savings of up to £1 billion as a result of fewer men needing lifelong HIV treatment. Numbers of new HIV diagnoses in men who have sex with men in the UK have been at high levels for several years, with over 3000 new cases per year from 2012 to 2015, and there is a need for new prevention approaches. The PrEP pill is a combination of two anti-HIV drugs (emtricitabine and tenofovir) that are taken daily or around sexual activity to reduce a person's risk of HIV infection. NHS England initially refused to pay for PrEP, arguing that responsibility for HIV prevention services lay with local authorities, but following a judicial review and subsequent rejection of that decision, NHS England announced it would provide PrEP to 10000 patients through an implementation study in selected clinics from September 2017. The study is the first study to assess the cost-effectiveness of a national roll-out of PrEP.   "There is no doubt about the effectiveness of PrEP.