PrEP in Europe: more calls for swift action

It’s been more than 3 years since the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV (PrEP). Since then mounting evidence has shown that not only is PrEP highly effective at preventing HIV infection but that often it is used most by those who can most benefit from it.

Unfortunately governments in Europe have been slow to act to approve Truvada for use as PrEP and to make it available to people at risk of HIV infection. Despite the clear evidence that PrEP works, European governments and health agencies have been cautious, expressing concern over cost-effectiveness and the complexities of how to provide a method of prevention that requires ongoing support from a variety of very different medical systems.

Recently though patience has been growing thin among advocates and the calls for European governments to take prompt action to make PrEP available have been growing louder and more widespread. Last week I posted about a new statement from the UK’s National AIDS Trust which urged the NHS to “provide PrEP without delay.” Days later the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) and the European AIDS Clinical Society released a strongly-worded statement declaring that “access to pre-exposure prophylaxis is essentially and urgently needed across Europe.”