The Medicines Agency’s Pricing and Reimbursement Committee has approved the reimbursement of the so-called Prep, pre-exposure prophylaxis, aimed at preventing HIV. The drug is therefore placed in band A, and becomes reimbursable by the National Health System.
Approved in 2016 by the European Medicines Agency, Prep essentially consists of taking tablets, before and after exposure to the risk of contracting the virus. It is not recommended for everyone but recommended for those who have a sexual relationship with a partner who has HIV, who have casual unprotected sexual encounters or who share needles to inject drugs.
“The reimbursement of the Prep – comments Bruno Marchini, president of Anlaids Onlus, an association that has been involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS since 1985 – is an important step forward in the prevention of HIV infection, since it makes the drug usable by all However, Prep is a process which, in addition to prescribing the drug, includes periodic screening for sexually transmitted infections, which at the moment is still the responsibility of the user in most Italian regions. path load to ensure effective prevention and complete awareness”.