PrEP is so popluar there's a shortage of Truvada

[rawTOP]

I went to pick up my Truvada/PrEP prescription on Saturday and the price had gone up about $12 (my plan pays 80% so that's about $60 retail). I made some remark about it usually being lower and the pharmacist said her other job is at a hospital ordering wholesale drugs and she recently noticed that the wholesale price of Truvada had gone up. When she asked about it she was told there was a shortage of the drug. It would seem that PrEP has been more popular than Gilead expected and they're not able to keep up with the demand. Or the cynical side of me wonders if they're trying to profit off a market where they're the only approved drug. Hopefully it's not that and it's just a production capacity problem and it'll get resolved soon.

[bearbandit]

The Truvada you guys get as PrEP is identical to the Truvada we get as treatment. It's got to be a local shortage: just in the past couple of weeks there have been reports of the uptake of PrEP being much lower than expected. Last time I remember a shortage, no, famine, of an HIV dug was that dreadful year around the turn of the century when ritonavir was only available as the most foul tasting liquid imaginable!

[bearbandit]

As I said: it's got to be a local shortage. There's a hospital in Cardiff that won't dispense more than a month's worth at once, whereas the hospital I use, forty or fifty miles westwards is happy to prescribe four of five months' worth at a time...

Edited March 4, 2014 by rawTOP

[wood]

The Truvada you guys get as PrEP is identical to the Truvada we get as treatment. It's got to be a local shortage: just in the past couple of weeks there have been reports of the uptake of PrEP being much lower than expected. Last time I remember a shortage, no, famine, of an HIV dug was that dreadful year around the turn of the century when ritonavir was only available as the most foul tasting liquid imaginable!

Yeah Im thinking the same thing. The components of Truvada are in multiple over meds, that are persribed in greater numbers. I bet it will even out.

[seaguy]

If your in the US and have insurance you can go here to sign up for a discount card http://www.gileadcopay.com/ that will save you money on your copays and out of pocket costs.