PrEP Will Be Given for Free to 200,000 Americans for 11 Years
Pharmaceutical corporation Gilead have announced a deal with the Trump administration to provide 200,000 people in the US with free access to the PrEP drug Truvada for eleven years.
If taken daily, PrEP significantly reduces the chances of an HIV-infection. Countries that have introduced PrEP have seen a dramatic reduction in new cases of HIV.
Gilead currently owns the parent for the drug in the US, which means generic and cheaper versions of the drug are prevented from circulation in the country. Despite agreeing to lift the patent a year early (in 2020) activists are sceptical of the timing of this deal, which comes just a week after the US Justice Department announced an investigation into the overpricing of the drug.
“The real cost of Truvada is about $60 a year,” said HIV researcher Dr Rochelle Walensky. “If you really wanted to cover everybody, you’d cut the price to everyone.”
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