Protocol said OK’d for HIV medications

The Arkansas State Medical Board has approved a statewide protocol allowing pharmacists to dispense preand post-exposure prophylaxis medications for HIV, according to correspondence from a board official.

Arkansas’ Act 314 of 2023 allows pharmacists to dispense the drugs under a statewide protocol approved by the Medical Board and state Board of Pharmacy.

The Pharmacy Board approved the protocol in October.

At a meeting in February, the Medical Board voted to hold off on approving it until it was reviewed Dr. Amanda Novack, infectious-disease specialist at Baptist Health.

In a March 29 email to John Kirtley, executive director of the Pharmacy Board, Juli Carlson, the Medical Board’s regulatory manager, attached a letter in which she said Novack had approved the protocol.

“(T)herefore the Board approves” the protocol, Carlson said in the email.

“I have spoken with (Medical Board Chairman) Dr. (Edward) Gardner about this matter and he asked that I notify you of the Board’s approval,” Carlson continued.

The law allows a supply of 30-60 days of pre-exposure prophylaxis to be dispensed to a patient who has tested negative for HIV within the past seven days and doesn’t report any signs or symptoms of acute HIV infections or use of contraindicated medications.

Post-exposure prophylaxis may be dispensed to a patient who has been exposed to HIV within the previous 72 hours and otherwise meets clinical criteria for the medication.

In her March 28 letter, Novack noted that the World Health Organization had recently recommended the use of a different drug for post-exposure prophylaxis than the one listed in the protocol.

Since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not yet made the same recommendation, she said the protocol’s recommendation on the matter was “not unreasonable,” but she recommended the protocol be updated if the CDC issues new guidance on the topic.