Question reference: S5W-00360
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 1 June 2016
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Current status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 21 June 2016
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis; whether its introduction would assist in preventing future HIV infections, and, if so, to what extent.
Answer
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) provides advice to NHS boards in Scotland about the status of newly licensed medicines and new formulations and indications of established products following submissions from pharmaceutical companies. A manufacturer would need to obtain a marketing authorisation (product licence) for this treatment and make a submission to SMC. The sexual health and blood borne virus clinical leads network have established a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) short life working group to consider a range of issues associated with PrEP in the current context.