NHS England confirms decision not to fund PrEP

NHS England confirms decision not to fund PrEP following a meeting of its Specialised Services Commissioning Committee on May 31. 2016.

On March 21, NHS England made the surprise announcement that despite having met with a reference group including representatives of local authorities for the previous 18 months, they would not be making PrEP available on prescription. A planned consultation agreed by the reference group was cancelled furthermore NHS England considered it was the responsibility of local authorities to finance the prescribing of the drug if it was to be made available, something never discussed at the reference group.

PrEP is a way of using anti-retroviral drugs – usually used for treating people with diagnosed HIV-to stop viral transmission. Evidence of effectiveness is strongest for men who do not use condoms in sex with multiple male partners.

Following representations from stakeholder groups and threats of legal action NHS England agreed to revisit their decision which they did on May 31 at the Specialised Services Commissioning Committee, when the committee effectively stood by its original decision.

Cllr Teresa O’Neill OBE, London Councils’ Executive member for health, said: “We are disappointed that the urgent representations made by London Councils and our health partners about the importance of PrEP have been ignored. In London rates of HIV transmission remain high and it is worrying to see NHS England turn its back on a drug that focuses on prevention to address one of the capital’s most significant public health concerns.

“There has already been extensive testing of PrEP which shows that 86 per cent of those at risk who take the drug are protected from contracting HIV. More testing is not needed and only funding a limited number of test sites with £1 million per year over two years will be nowhere near enough to treat the number of people who need PrEP. The question of what happens to those 500 people given the drug after the two-year period is over remains a worrying concern.

“NHS England is playing a waiting game until the PrEP drug comes off patent in 2018 and London Councils and our health partners do not believe it is acceptable to let any more Londoners contract HIV while we wait.”

A study on the effectiveness of PrEP called the PROUD study was published in the Lancet in January 2016, based on a randomised trial in 13 sexual health clinics in England.

It showed that in 86 per cent of cases PrEP can prevent HIV.

To read the report, click here: 

In November 2015, France became the first country outside the USA, and the first country with a centrally organised, reimbursable health system, to approve no-expense pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for people who need it.