Long-Acting Injectables Promote PrEP Access, Adherence, Says Dr Tam Phan

Tam C. Phan, PharmD, AAHIVP, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy, USC School of Pharmacy, talks about how HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) therapies in the pipeline address disparities in patient access and adherence.

Transcript

How do HIV PrEP therapies currently in the pipeline differ from those currently available?

I think with newer technology development, we're hoping to make PrEP more accessible and easier to adhere to. That would require and allow the patient to come in to clinic every 2 months or even, potentially in the pipeline, every 6 months, as mentioned. And that will allow for patients to have an easier access and potentially hope to also decrease some of the costs associated with current PrEP use, such as coming in quarterly for their visits or their updated testing for screenings for comorbid conditions.

If approved, how do you anticipate these will help address health disparities and patient access issues?

The population that is being impacted the most, so again Black gay men and also transgender women, typically and historically, they have been marginalized and been put at a disadvantage when it comes to their cisgender or White comparator or counterpart. So that could be associated to lower socioeconomic status, not having work, or being discriminated against in the health care setting.

Ideally, with the long-acting injectables, we can help increase access for patients because it would decrease the amount of visits they would have per year. Also, it would help highly with adherence because, currently, the medications, some of the options that we currently have for oral medications require daily administration vs in the pipeline and ideally with the injection every 2 months or every 6 months. If the product gets approved, then it would allow the patients to adhere to the medication easier.