Mags Portman: The PrEP debate gains momentum

This blog was originally written for BMJ Clinical Evidence and posted on blogs.bmj.com/ce/

Last week saw a landmark shift in the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV debate in England. After 18 months of work with key stakeholders-including clinicians, commissioners, and community advocates-NHS England announced that it was no longer able to fund a significant PrEP rollout; the outcome the Clinical Reference Group (CRG) thought that they had been working towards. The rationale given for this late stage decision is that NHS England does not commission HIV prevention. NHS England will be making up to £2m available over the next two years to run a number of early implementer test sites, which local authorities will have to bid to become.

Truvada for use as PrEP was licensed for use in the United States in July 2012. There is evidence from San Francisco that a combination HIV prevention approach, with PrEP treatment as prevention plus condoms and behavioural intervention, is having an impact upon HIV incidence.

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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below

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