NHS accepts it must pay for drug to prevent spread of HIV

THE NHS has finally agreed to fund a controversial HIV prevention treatment following a High Court battle over who would pay for the drug.

NHS England announced that preexposure prophylaxis (PREP), a pill taken before sex which reduces the risk of infection by about 86 per cent, will now be provided for 10,000 people from September in a three-year trial.

Initially the NHS said that councils should pick up the bill because they are in charge of preventive health. It also claimed that it might be forced to cut treatments for cancer victims and children with cystic fibrosis if it was forced to fund the £5,000-a-year drug.

Christian groups argued that the efficacy of the drug had not been fully proven and warned that calls to fund it were more to do with political correctness than preventive health. However, last year the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling that said the NHS had the power to pay for PREP.

Announcing the decision to fund the treatment yesterday, Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, hailed the treatment as “a major new intervention”. The National Aids Trust (NAT) said it was a “pivotal moment” in the prevention of HIV in England.

Sexual health clinics in London, Brighton, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield will be among the first to start enrolling people, with more joining in October before implementation across England by April 2018. The £10million trial aims to gather clinical evidence on how PREP is targeted, taken up, and implemented on a large scale.

Mr Stevens said: “This major new in- tervention should complement and supercharge the wide-ranging and increasingly successful effort to prevent HIV. It’s another milestone in more than three decades’ worth of progress in tackling one of humanity’s major health challenges.”

Deborah Gold, chief executive at NAT, said: “We warmly welcome this announcement. This is a pivotal moment in the fight against HIV. PREP, if targeted properly at those in need and at risk, offers the possibility of transforming the English HIV epidemic.”

Ian Green, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “The priority must now be to make sure that the trial is rolled out speedily across the country, and that no one at risk of HIV is left behind. We’re well on the way to protecting over 10,000 people.”

Sharon Hodgson, shadow public health minister, said it was welcome but overdue “after months of delays and heel-dragging by the Government”.