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On the occasion of World AIDS Day, the Medicines Agency is updating its data on the use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). In its conclusions, it notes “a sharp increase in its prescription by general practitioners in town”.
PrEP or HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which is Truvada or its generics, is a prophylactic treatment that prevents the transmission of the HIV virus during unprotected sex.
A “sustained” recovery in the use of PrEP in France
The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) is therefore updating its data until June 30, 2022, regarding this treatment. According to its figures, there is a sustained recovery in the use of PrEP in France, after a decline linked to the health crisis linked to Covid-19.
“Following the shift in the dynamics of PrEP distribution in France that occurred in 2020 in connection with the Covid-19 epidemic, the resumption of PrEP initiations outlined in the first half of 2021 was confirmed in the second half of 2021 and in first semester 2022” notes the ANSM, with a 40% increase in users, between 2021 and 2022 (42,583 versus 30,376).
In total, 64,821 people aged 15 and over initiated this type of prophylaxis at the end of the first half of 2022. A trend confirmed by Professor Eric Caumes, infectious disease specialist, consultant doctor at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris and author of the book “Sex, the new dangers” (Books/document): “it is indeed a treatment which is more and more prescribed, to a certain category of the population”.
What is the user profile?
The ANSM is precisely interested in user profiles. If the proportion of women using this prophylaxis remains “marginal“with 4% of users in the first half of 2022, the typical profile seems to be”mainly men, aged 36 on average, residing in Île-de-France or in a large metropolis and among whom the proportion of beneficiaries of complementary CMU or AME is low”.
Further, the dissemination of PrEP to groups other than men who have sex with men who may need it”continued but remains limited“according to the ANSM.
An increase in prescriptions
Since June 1, 2021, the first PrEP prescription has been possible for all prescribers, in particular general practitioners. ANSM figures report 3,800 first-time prescriptions, “i.e. 41% of all PrEP initiations, which were carried out by private prescribers (including 88% by general practitioners)“.
An increase welcomed by Professor Caumes, who nevertheless remains cautious about the misinterpretation that those who take it can make of it: “The main message to remember is that PrEP is very effective in protecting against HIV. The risk is that the people who use it think that it protects against all sexually transmitted infections, but this is false and increases the risk of the emergence of sexually transmitted diseases. Monkeypox is the perfect example of this.. The infectiologist therefore invites the people concerned not to stop protecting themselves by thinking that PrEP is enough.