A High Court judge has ruled NHS England can fund PrEP, a drug that prevents HIV, to gay men.
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The “highly effective” anti-retroviral drug which is used to stop HIV from becoming established in the event of transmission has been shown to reduce infection in people who are high risk by 90%.
It has said local councils are in charge of funding preventative health services.
In the wake of the announcement last month, The National AIDS Trust (NAT) went to the High Court to challenge the legality of NHS England’s decision to remove PrEP from its commissioning process.
“Those at very high risk of HIV – particularly gay men – actually use condoms more consistently than the general public, and they are very good at doing that”, she added.
The filing questions why NHS England had consulted on making PrEP available in the first place, given it now retroactively claims it has no legal authority to do so.
NHS England does fund other medication to protect sexual health, such as the oral contraceptive pill.
It argued the body does have the legal power to commission the drug.
Dr Michael Brady, medical director at the HIV/Aids charity Terrence Higgins Trust, welcomed the findings and described the drug as “a game-changer”.
Dr Brady said: ” It is not a vaccine and it won’t be for everyone, but, once approved, we expect it to significantly increase the momentum in our fight against the virus.
NHS in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have not yet made a decision on the provision on PrEP. The World Health Organisation do recommend however, that those people deemed to be at substantial risk of HIV infection are offered the treatment.
Deborah Gold, NAT’s chief executive, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that trials using PrEP have produced “outstanding” results.
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One argument in favour of Prep is that although expensive, it is cheaper than the costs involved in treating HIV.
