HIV Prevention Drug

Effective Jan. 1, 2018, British Columbians at high risk of HIV infection will be able to receive pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily oral antiretroviral medication that prevents new HIV infection, at no cost.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says the government is committed to helping fight the spread of HIV/AIDS and supporting people as they take action to protect themselves from the virus. T

The drug will be available through the BC Centre for Excellence’s HIV Drug Treatment program, which is funded by the Ministry of Health through the B.C. PharmaCare program.

“B.C. has led the country and the world on efforts to control HIV and AIDS over the last three decades with the development and implementation of the made-in-B.C. Treatment as Prevention strategy. The addition of PrEP and expansion of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to our Treatment as Prevention strategy has the potential to further accelerate the decline of new HIV infections in the province,” said Dr. Julio Montaner, director, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.