The reimbursement of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) decreed by AIFA in 2023, after a six-year wait, represented an important step forward in HIV prevention, but remains insufficient. In addition to new implementation strategies, the scientific community and the patient community above all hope for Aifa’s approval of Long Acting PrEP, which would allow preventive coverage against HIV for two months. These are some of the messages that emerged from the “PrEP and Innovation” press conference which was held as part of the 16th edition of Icar Italian conference on Aids and antiviral research, in Rome at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore until tomorrow. Long Acting PrEP received the green light from the EMA, the European agency that regulates medicines, last October. Unlike oral PrEP – reports a note – i.e. a tablet taken every day or as needed, Long Acting PrEP is injectable and offers longer-lasting coverage.
“PrEP, in all its forms, oral and long acting, is a key element of public health in the fight against the spread of HIV – states Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit) – In In particular, Long ActingPrEP is an HIV prevention tool, also recognized by the WHO for people at substantial risk of infection, which expands the overall offer of different prevention methods for a virus for which there is no vaccine”.
Its potential – we read in the note – has been confirmed by several Italian studies. In a survey disseminated on specific digital channels of the LGBTQIA+ population, which reached 1419 people, only 27% of these declared taking oral PrEP, thus revealing a large margin in which the HIV preventive offer still struggles to penetrate . The research also highlighted two characteristics of respondents related to interest in Long Acting PrEP: taking oral PrEP and knowledge of the preventive equation U=U (if HIV is not detectable, it is not transmissible).
Today, therefore, Long Acting PrEP in the LGBTQIA+ population is associated with a profile of a well-informed and proactive person in the desire to prevent HIV. A second survey, carried out in March 2024 on oral PrEP users at the Milan checkpoint, highlighted how of the 419 respondents (98% male and 70% graduates) as many as 74.9% showed interest in Long Acting PrEP. Of these, over half declared they had little information about it. Tiredness from taking the tablets and also from supplying them, as well as feeling dependent on a tablet to perform sexual activity freely are the aspects that characterized those interested in Long Acting PrEP in this survey. Finally, research on 1056 oral PrEP users in Milan, in centers where the community is present, found that 27.8% of people could benefit from Long Acting PrEP due to problems with oral PrEP mainly related to adherence, but also to toxicity.
“The reimbursement of PrEP is one of the great results obtained in Italy in the fight against HIV, even if significant obstacles of various kinds remain in access – concludes Andreoni – Now, however, we ask the institutions to be equally sensitive in understanding the importance of Long Acting PrEP is also available to the population, which guarantees longer coverage, and which can prove to be a truly innovative strategy against HIV”.
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