Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis or PrEP

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) involves putting HIV negative people on antiretroviral drugs (ARV) with the aim of protecting them from HIV infection. This blog looks at some of the pros and cons of PrEP.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Can PrEP Be Used As and When People Need it or Must it Be Taken Daily?

So far, PrEP has only been approved for daily use, not for intermittent use. Intermittent use, if it works well, could be a lot cheaper than daily use. It could also be a lot easier to adhere to that way. The side effects of taking strong medication might be reduced. And perhaps resistance would develop more slowly with intermittent use. Who knows?

These aspects of intermittent use will be examined in the HPTN 067 ADAPT study (Alternate Dosing to Augment PrEP Tablet-taking). Of course, the retail price of PrEP will be higher if those eventually using it are only taking the drug when they need it, but individuals should need fewer doses. And the hope is that it will work out cheaper for them. The effect of the availability of PrEP will also be assessed for its effect on sexual risk taking.

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