The Future of HIV PrEP Is Individualized, Accessible

The year 2021 marks the 10-year anniversary of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) being an option for prevention of HIV in at-risk persons—a landmark innovation that has redefined the opportunity to eradicate HIV.

But there remains a long road ahead toward actually reaching such an ambitious goal, even with optimized PrEP options.

In the second segment of an interview with Contagion, David Koren, PharmD, MPH, BCPS, a Clinical Pharmacist Specialist in ID/HIV at Temple University Hospital, discussed the need for communication, accessibility, and education to ensure PrEP best put to use in the US.

“We know that these medications work and are efficacious to do what they’re set out to do,” Koren said. “But we’re not getting them into the hands of the people that need it.”

Koren also discussed the need for improved PrEP access in more advantageous clinical settings, such as primary care offices, emergency departments, and rural-based pharmacies. He called it the responsibility of the medical community to better bridge the gaps of PrEP access and education.

“Over the next decade of PrEP, we now need to take these incredibly efficacious medications and make sure we are going the last leg of educating the communities, as well as decreasing barriers to access, so that everyone can work together to end the epidemic,” Koren said.