Forum with HIV prevention expert Dr Bob Grant focused on impact of PrEP overseas
THE聽Victorian AIDS Council (VAC) recently held a forum earlier this week to discuss HIV prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with a focus on the major impact it has already had overseas.
The evening鈥檚 presenter was San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s chief medical officer Dr Robert聽Grant, an expert in HIV research who has undertaken various studies on HIV prevention.
[showads聽ad=MREC]The聽forum, held on Tuesday night, was similar to one聽in Sydney on Monday night that was hosted by ACON.
Since the US Food and Drug Administration approved PrEP in 2012, new HIV transmissions in San Francisco have dropped by 30 per cent.
Grant said he believed this success could be achieved in Australia, with PrEP being one of the keys to ending new transmissions.
鈥淲e鈥檙e here to imagine possible futures,听and I think we鈥檙e excited and grateful to be imagining together a world with no HIV disease, no HIV transmissions, and no HIV stigma,” he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e here to imagine Australia free of HIV, and in this moment I think we need to appreciate that this is a moment of possibility.鈥�
PrEP has not yet been approved in Australia, and to purchase it locally costs upwards of $1000 per month.聽This forces most local gay men to import it online from overseas for over $100 per script.
For it to be affordable and accessible, PrEP needs to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) 鈥� Australia鈥檚 peak regulatory body for medicines 鈥斅燼nd placed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), bringing the cost down to around $38.80 per script.
VAC health promotion and policy director Colin Batrouney said the forum reaffirmed the effectiveness or PrEP and the need to make it accessible in Australia.
鈥淕rant鈥檚 research has demonstrated again and again that if PrEP is taken as prescribed people are completely protected against acquiring HIV,鈥� he told the Star Observer.
鈥淥f course STIs other than HIV are a major concern which points to the needs for regular testing.鈥�
At the forum, Batrouney said the idea was raised that regardless of one鈥檚 sexual lifestyle, all gay men should have access to PrEP.
鈥淩ather than characterising PrEP as only being useful to those 鈥榓t risk鈥�, at various points in the lives of gay men they may need the protection of PrEP and this ought not to be made difficult,鈥� he said.
The VAC has been advised that every week in Melbourne and Sydney up to 50 men are asking their sexual health physicians about PrEP, and the avenues to access it.
US pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences , and although there have been聽,听the result of this application won鈥檛 be known until early next year.
VAC senior policy analyst Heath Paynter was the host of the forum. He said with the success of Grant鈥檚 research overseas, the time for action is now.
鈥淭he conversation is very real now,鈥� he said.
鈥淏y this, I mean PrEP is part of the conversation that gay guys are having as we negotiate risk and discuss sex.鈥�
Paynter also mentioned that when PrEP was first approved in the US, it was met with considerable opposition.
鈥淧rEP was, at least initially, cast as a strategy that increased promiscuity and risk,鈥� he said.
鈥淚n effect, the boy on PrEP was seen by many as a 鈥榖ad gay鈥欌�� but this is wrong.
鈥淓very scientific trial on PrEP indicates that individuals who use PrEP daily are at no risk of HIV, and their sexual practices do not drastically change.鈥�
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