Health Secretary gives green light to HIV drug trial

The drug PrEP has been described as 'game-changing'. Credit: Terrence Higgins Trust

The Health Secretary has announced a trial to provide the HIV drug PrEP to all those who would benefit from the preventative treatment.

This is despite the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) advising the Welsh Government not to fund the drug earlier this week.

The HIV prevention treatment, also know as Truvada, has been called a called 'game-changing' by leading HIV charity, Terrence Higgins Trust.

What is PrEP?

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a course of HIV drugs taken by HIV negative people that effectively stops HIV infection.
The medication used for PrEP is a tablet called Truvada, which contains tenofovir and emtricitabine (which are drugs commonly used to treat HIV).
The World Health Organisation guidelines state PrEP improves opportunities for people to access other services such as HIV testing, STI screening and counselling.

Vaughan Gething said the trial will run for at least three years and will begin this summer.