The UK High Court judicial review has ruled that National Health Service (NHS) England will be responsible for the commissioning of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) drug, a measure used to prevent HIV transmission.
With the judicial review, NHS will have to make all efforts to ensure that the treatment is available to patients who are in need as quickly as possible.
Initially, NHS England had said that owing to the preventative nature of the PrEP drug, they were not responsible for it.
According to NHS, it was up to the local authorities whether the PrEP drug should be commissioned.
The High Court judicial review has concluded that both local authorities and NHS England will have the power to commission PrEP.
UK-based professional organisation The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), along with British HIV Association (BHIVA), has agreed to the High Court judicial review.
The High Court decision comes on time as an average of 17 people in the UK continue to be diagnosed with HIV in one day.
With the use of once-daily pill Prep, the risk of HIV infection has been proven to reduce by more than 90% as the drug helps disable the virus, thereby preventing it from multiplying.
Currently used in the US, Canada, Australia and France, the drug is particularly administered to at-risk gay men to protect them from HIV infection.
NHS England has requested permission to appeal the judgement.
Meanwhile, it will work in collaboration with Public Health England to run several early implementer test sites, with up to £2m investment over the next two years.
In the test sites, NHS will research how PrEP can be commissioned in the most clinical and cost-effective way.
