PrEP injections in England (maybe?)

[Nay80]

I was reading up on the injectable PrEP, which you only need to take once every two months, so I asked my doc about it today at the clinic and if it was available in the UK any time soon and he said it technically is. He explained it doesn't need to pass testing over here 'cos they already know it works as they currently use it on HIV Patients sometimes as an alternative drug. He said they probably won't make it available anytime soon as an alternative to tablet PrEP as the tablets are so cheap to obtain currently, but if their clinic ever finds a cheap enough supplier of Cabotegravir then it would be available immediatly. one jab every two months is a lot simpler than remembering to take tablets I suppose.

just thought I'd let fellow England members on here know, that's all. I know that the Cabotegravir injections are available in the states in some places and other UK members on here may be curious like i was.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Nay80

[SpectreAgent]

That's really interesting because I asked my NHS consultant about HIV injections a few months ago as I was going travelling to the States and I thought it might be easier than carrying my meds over. She downplayed the efficacy of the injections, as she says the relative failure rate is too high for her to recommend it. She was prepared to go down that route if I was finding the pill regime too hard to follow but since it doesn't bother me at all I haven't pursued it. I got the impression that it might be a different story a couple of years down the line, though.

[kitpig]

I guess the more people that ask about it and express a desire to have the injection rather than tablets, the more notice the NHS etc will take, and ultimately the sooner it may become available.  
thanks for posting this and I hope many more UK guys pick up on it 🙂

[Iker80]

Might be good for guys who get a bad stomach from the pills, or who want to keep their PrEP use discrete and can't have pills around the house. Great for a holiday too, no worries about loosing the pills or forgetting to take them, or whatever, just go and have fun!