HIV drug
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- Published on Thursday, 03 December 2015 09:45
- Written by editor
PAOV – There's a new petition taking off on Change.org, and we think you might be interested in signing it.
Cette pétition prend de l'ampleur sur Change.org, souhaitez-vous la signer? Elle demande que Santé Canada approuve la prophylaxie pré-exposition (PrEP), des médicaments oraux quotidiens qui permettent aux personnes séronégatives à risque de se protéger contre le VIH avec une efficacité de 99%. Ces médicaments ont été autorisés aux États-Unis mais pas encore au Canada.
Jane Philpott: There's a pill to prevent HIV...help get it approved in Canada
AreYouReady 4PrEp Canada
Sign the petition
Every three to four hours, a Canadian is infected with HIV (2093 Canadians in 2013, PHAC 2014). But, times have changed and there is now a pill to help prevent transmission. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is the use of Truvada, a drug approved over 11yrs ago for HIV treatment; now used by HIV-negative individuals to prevent infection. When taken daily as prescribed, recent studies and demonstration sites have shown PrEP to be up to 99% effective.
Truvada is already being prescribed legally but off-label for prophylactic use in Canada. While the U.S. FDA approved the use of Truvada for prevention of HIV in summer of 2012 and the CDC, British Columbia and Quebec have published initial guidelines for the use of PrEP. This year, the WHO also recommended PrEP for those at substantial risk of transmission (MSM, trans women, couples where one person is HIV-positive, and injection drug users). In fact, one recent study, which included Canadian participants, determined PrEP to be so effective that the study was stopped (in other words, it works!). Despite the emerging evidence of PrEP’s efficacy, Canada lags behind in its approval and accessibility of Truvada as PrEP to Canadian residents.
Gilead, the manufacturer of Truvada, recently applied for approval to Health Canada. A spokesperson for Health Canada is reported to have advised that such approval normally takes up to 300 days. On the basis of existing data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of Truvada as PrEP, we propose that Health Canada approve PrEP through a priority review process, which would instead take possibly half the time or less for the approval of the drug for this new prevention option. Priority approval is regularly used for certain drugs already approved in other jurisdictions where certain health conditions are indicated such as HIV.
Encouraged by our Prime Minister’s recently stated desire to develop evidence based policies, we invite you to sign this petition to show the Right Honourable Jane Philpott, MP, PC, the Health Minister of Canada, how ready Canadians are for PrEP, for those at substantial risk of transmission. In the time it will take to approve the drug in the standard process, over 2,000 Canadians may become infected with HIV. Many more may become infected while waiting for the provinces to include PrEP in their respective drug benefit plans. Knowing this, it is our cause to request that the Health Minister intervenes urgently to help reduce the transmission of HIV in Canada.
For more information, please visit:
AIDS Committee of Toronto site: www.hivnow.ca
WHO guideline: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/186275/1/9789241509565_eng.pdf?ua=1
CDC guideline: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/prepguidelines2014.pdf
Truvada REMS Materials: http://www.truvadapreprems.com/truvadaprep-resources
Ipergay study: http://www.croiconference.org/sessions/demand-prep-oral-tdf-ftc-msm-results-anrs-ipergay-trial
PrEP publication: http://www.projectinform.org/pdf/prep_msm.pdf
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