Thousands more people in NSW and Victoria will get access to a drug that protects people from getting HIV, ahead of its approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Truvada, a pill likened to an HIV contraceptive, is available in the US and France, and is used to treat HIV in Australia. The TGA is currently deciding whether it should also be used as a preventative drug, and is expected to complete its review in 2017.
Victorian and NSW health ministers will use World Aids Day events on Tuesday to reveal new measures to allow more people to access the drug, which uses a measure known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PReP) for prevention.
NSW, Victoria and Queensland have been testing the drug on almost 500 people at high risk of HIV infection since last year. None have contracted the virus, according to the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations.
NSW health minister Jillian Skinner, who called PreP a game-changer, will announce that NSW’s clinical trial at the Kirby Institute of UNSW will be expanded from 300 to about 3700 people.
“The addition of PrEP to our state’s HIV response brings us a step closer to our goal of achieving the virtual elimination of HIV transmission by 2020,” she said. “NSW is the only major Australian state achieving declines in newly diagnosed HIV infections.”
Victorian health minister Jill Hennessy will also announce clinical guidelines for general practitioners to prescribe “off-label PrEP”, which are expected to encourage more people to access the drug safely and to undertake follow-up tests if they are needed.
A spokeswoman for Ms Hennessy would not rule out expanding Victoria’s clinical trial of 115 people at The Alfred hospital. “There are already promising results emerging around high levels of adherence in taking the medication and, significantly, decreased levels of anxiety about HIV acquisition,” she said.
The Greens are also pushing for federal funding to help expand state trials to up to 10,000 people across Australia. Senator Rob Simms on Monday also called on the Turnbull government to expedite the TGA’s review process and remove other regulatory barriers to rapid HIV tests and home self-tests.
He told Fairfax Media: “This is a drug that’s having a huge impact overseas and I think Australians should have the right to access it here … in San Francisco this has achieved a 30 per cent reduction in HIV transmissions, it has been life-changing for many people.”
The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations executive director Rob Lake said about 27,150 people in Australia have HIV, with rates stabilising in the last few years.
“We recognise the importance of [the TGA review] but it’s the first time we’ve had something so significant since the first [HIV prevention] drug appeared in 1996,” he said.
He said while people currently imported generic versions of the drug, many more would feel safe to use it if were available locally. This would be particularly significant for gay men, who made up about three quarters of Australians diagnosed with HIV last year.
A spokesman for Health Minister Sussan Ley said drug manufacturers had only applied for TGA registration in Australia three years after it was registered in the US.
The government has yet to respond to the TGA review of medicines and medical devices, which recommended that approval for new medicines be fast-tracked if similar countries had already approved them.