CROI 2014: PrEP Update
A discussion of where PrEP is and where skepticism remains as a barrier to PrEP use. Experience in San Francisco is demonstrating that there is a demand in the community for PrEP and recognition that the barrier is no longer whether PrEP works but that the new barrier is access and education. The panel agrees that this is the first year of CROI where the audience has been open and demanding of knowledge and access to PrEP. Demonstrations of drugs in development make it seem plausible that within 2-5 years we could be seeing injectable PrEP and vaginal implants that can be preventive for 2-3 months, so as the awareness and demand for PrEP takes off now, it will in a few years align with available new technologies to simplify the prevention process.
Jared Baeten, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Global Health and Medicine, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle;
Stephanie Cohen, MD, MPH, Medical Director, San Francisco, Dept of Public Health, Medical Director, San Francisco, City Clinic;
Host – Mark Hubbard, Educational Liaison, TAPWA, Nashville, TN.