Six months in, province celebrates uptake for free HIV prevention drugs

published on June 26, 2018 by Cherise Seucharan, in The Star

VANCOUVER—The Ministry of Health is reporting strong success six months into a program expanding coverage of HIV prevention medications.

On Jan. 1, the province began covering the costs of preexposure prophylaxis treatment, also known as PrEP, for patients deemed at-risk. On Tuesday, Minister Adrian Dix announced that so far 1,944 people have received free PrEP, with a smaller number receiving post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).

Dr. Julio Montaner, who led the development of the groundbreaking PrEP treatment at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS, said he hopes the program will help end the HIV-AIDS epidemic.

“This is more than an announcement; it’s a celebration,” said Montaner at the news conference. “We have embarked in making PrEP and PEP free of charge for British Columbia, and in doing so we are going to set an example for rest of the country and for the rest of the world.”

The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS expects that, once the program reaches 5,000 patients, British Columbia will see an 83 per cent reduction of new HIV cases by 2026.

In an interview, Dr. Montaner said that while the projection is based on 5,000 participants, that number could be reached or exceeded within the year.

“Since we started the program, we have seen a steady influx of people into PrEP, about 100 clients per week since January,” he said.

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Six months in, province celebrates uptake for free HIV prevention drugs

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