San Francisco Supervisor Wants To Make HIV/AIDS Drug Available To Anyone Who Needs It
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – After news came out this week that San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener is taking the preventative HIV/AIDS drug Truvada, or PrEP, one of his colleagues wants to make the drug more readily available.
Supervisor David Campos wants the Board to appropriate an extra $807,000 to cover the cost of providing Truvada to any San Franciscan who needs it.
"Insurance companies and others cover it, but it's really hard to navigate the process to get approval," Campos said at a committee hearing Thursday.
San Francisco Supervisor Wants To Make HIV/AIDS Drug Available To Anyone Who Needs It
Dr. Bob Grant with UCSF, who led the research that provided the drug works, told the Neighborhood Services and Safety Committee that only about 800 people in San Francisco are taking Truvada, but thousands more could benefit.
"I estimate that we should be giving PrEP to about 6,000 San Franciscans. And if we do that, we might expect the numbers of new infections to drop from currently 400 to less than 50," Grant said.
That would save an estimated $350,000 per person in care and treatment over a lifetime of having HIV. The Department of Public Health and every member of the public who spoke enthusiastically support the idea.
The supplemental budget request will be introduced next week
Truvada was created by Foster City-based Gilead Science and approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012.
