Clinical trials have shown PrEP cuts the risk of catching the virus during sex by more than 90 per cent. “It gives us a boost in confidence in the types of drugs that are available online. She works at a National Health Service sexual health clinic in London’s Soho that has been offering blood tests for generic PrEP users since February.”But HIV activist Nutland, who is also a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, believes drugmakers must do more to make their products affordable.For Freeman and other critics of the pharmaceuticals industry, the advent of today’s buyers clubs is just the latest chapter in an ongoing war over drug prices, with parallels to the battle over getting cheap HIV drugs into Africa.”The buyers clubs’ websites act as middlemen by providing details of trusted online pharmacies and drug manufacturers, exploiting a loophole in World Trade Organisation patent rules that allows small-scale imports of medicines for personal use.“What this sort of data does is give doctors and patients some faith that this isn’t an act of complete lunacy that is going to cause patient harm,” said James Freeman, a Tasmanian doctor behind a hepatitis C drug-buying club.“This new data shows that so far we’ve got it right,” the HIV activist said.“It’s an absolute scandal that the prices are so high that even wealthy national services are saying they cannot afford the costs of these drugs.Data presented at the October 23-26 HIV Glasgow conference showed generic drugs bought via buyers clubs in Australia, Britain, Russia and South-East Asia by a total of 900 patients delivered hepatitis C cure rates of around 95 per cent.Such observational studies do not have the rigor of full-scale clinical trials but they do provide reassurance.Savings can be huge.The need for those laboratory tests is controversial, since it costs money to test people taking medicines that were not prescribed by the official healthcare system in the first place.Will Nutland, who supports a drug-buying network in London and takes Indian-made generic drugs that are not available through the health service to prevent HIV infection, thinks the latest research will build confidence in such schemes.Resorting to a buyers club is clearly not conventional medicine but it is something some people have been brave enough to try and it seems to be working,” said Andrew Hill of London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.But Nneka Nwokolo, who presented the data on PrEP in Glasgow, believes it makes sense, given the proven efficacy of PrEP in several clinical trials. Today, thanks to cheap generics, the cost for the poor has been slashed to around $100.

Frustrated by China wholesale instant electric water heater tap the high price of antiviral drugs, thousands of patients from London to Moscow to Sydney are turning to a new wave of online “buyers clubs” to get cheap generic medicines to cure hepatit Frustrated by the high price of antiviral drugs, thousands of patients from London to Moscow to Sydney are turning to a new wave of online “buyers clubs” to get cheap generic medicines to cure hepatitis C and protect against HIV infection.Across Europe and around the world access to PrEP remains patchy. A month’s generic supply of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) HIV drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir costs about 45 pounds ($56) online in Britain, around a 10th of Gilead Sciences’ branded version Truvada.”. In Britain, routine use is stalled by a funding row, as well as doubts over cost-effectiveness, based on the high price of branded Truvada.A Indian-made course of treatment for the liver-destroying disease hepatitis C, meanwhile, can be had for around 1,000 pounds against a list price for branded drugs of around 35,000. Gilead’s Sovaldi initially cost $1,000 a pill in the United States, although competition has since pushed prices down.While regulators warn that buying drugs online is risky, scientific data presented at a recent medical conference suggest that treatment arranged through buyers club can be just as effective as through conventional channels.Another piece of research involving more than 200 gay men in London taking generic PrEP bought through a buyers club found that their drugs, mostly made by India’s Cipla, were both safe and effective at preventing HIV infection.Gilead said in a statement that it worked “to ensure broad access to its medicines through dialogue and efforts with payers and other stakeholders, including governments.