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Robbie Currie, CEO of National AIDS Trust, said:
We warmly welcome today’s decision by the Scottish Medicines Consortium to approve cabotegravir (CAB-LA) for NHS use in Scotland. For those who face challenges with daily PrEP pills, a long-acting injectable option could be life-changing. Scotland has led the way in HIV prevention before, and today’s announcement keeps that momentum going as the Scottish Government works towards their goal of ending new HIV transmissions by 2030.
CAB-LA will help close the prevention gap for people who face barriers to adhering to oral PrEP, including women, trans people, minority ethnic communities, people who inject drugs and others currently underserved by existing options. Now, the focus must be on ensuring an equitable rollout across Scotland – ensuring that everyone who needs it knows it’s an option for them, and making it easy to access.
This announcement also highlights the urgent need for NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) to move forward with its decision on CAB-LA in England and Wales. With Scotland pressing ahead, communities across the rest of the UK must not be left behind. We remain committed to ending new HIV cases and tackling health inequalities and will continue to advocate for access to a variety of timely and affordable PrEP options, including long-acting PrEP injectables, for all of the communities that can benefit.