NHS should finance HIV treatment PrEP, English High Court rules
The English High Court has today said that National Health Service (NHS) England should finance an important therapy used to treat patients suffering from HIV.
The NHS previously claimed that it does not have the legal power to commission drugs enabling pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) because it is up to local authorities to finance HIV services.
PrEP is used for treating people diagnosed with HIV in order to stop viral transmission. According to London Councils, a lobbying organisation for London’s 33 councils, it is proven to reduce the risk of HIV by up to 86%.
An NHS spokesperson previously told LSIPR: “We have listened carefully to stakeholders, and will continue to work with Public Health England and other partners on reducing HIV transmissions, but our external legal advice is clear that NHS England does not have the legal power to commission PrEP.”
Those claims were challenged by the UK-based National AIDS Trust (NAT).
In a ruling handed down today, August 2, Mr Justice Nicholas Green backed NAT.
He ruled that there was nothing to stop the NHS from paying for the drug and that NHS bosses had “erred” in arguing it was not their responsibility.
In his judgment Green wrote: “No one doubts that preventative medicine makes powerful sense. But one governmental body says it has no power to provide the service and the local authorities say that they have no money.
“The claimant is caught between the two, and the potential victims of this disagreement are those who will contract HIV/AIDS but who would not were the preventative policy to be fully implemented.”
He went on to conclude that in all the possible scenarios that were explored in the judicial review, NHS England does have the power to commission PrEP.
Deborah Gold, CEO of NAT, said: “This is fantastic news. It is vindication for the many people who were let down when NHS England absolved itself of responsibility for PrEP.
“The judgment has confirmed our view that it is perfectly lawful for NHS England to commission PrEP. Now NHS England must do just that.”
