A Bridge Too Far: The High Cost of Gilead’s HIV Prevention Pill

A new analysis by U.S. government researchers found that the high cost of the world’s only HIV prevention pill may have been a key factor preventing widespread adoption and use. Truvada was approved in 2012 for prevention of HIV. From 2014 to 2018, total payments for Truvada made by government programs, commercial insurers, and patients jumped from $114 million to nearly $2.1 billion. However, only 204,700 people were given prescriptions in 2018–less than 20% of the estimated total that could have benefited. Read more here.

(Source: Ed Silverman, STAT News, September 17, 2020)