The Modern HIV PrEP Options and Care Teams Are Evolving
Pharmacist-initiated access, as well as longer treatment durations, may redefine HIV prevention efforts.
The goals for preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) advancement are access and adherence, and recent innovations have put HIV preventive care teams in a position to better assure both.
In the first segment of an interview with Contagion, David Koren, MPH, BCPS, Clinical Pharmacist Specialist in ID & HIV at Temple University Hospital, discussed the current administration strategies and research in place to combat a national decrease in PrEP prescriptions.
What’s needed, Koren stressed, is a prioritization of direct HIV-risk prescription access.
“In order for that to be able to happen, we just need more members of the care team,” Koren explained. “And I’d like to say that really has evolved to include pharmacists in a really meaningful way lately.”
The initiation of prescribing at the pharmacy level leads to the concept of “de-medicalizing PrEP,” Koren explained, and allowing for community-level access.
Along the way, new research is seeking to innovate the availability of PrEP options to include longer dose durations and different methods of delivery—details which emphasize the desire for patient-specific interests.
“Choice is king, especially when we’re asking people to take a medication for an infection they don’t even have,” Koren said. “People are going to come to the table with their own wants and needs.”
