A revolutionary HIV drug that will liberate thousands of gay Australians from the fear of sex will almost certainly be approved for federal subsidy this week, in a watershed moment in the decades-long fight against AIDS.
Hopes are high particularly in the gay community that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee will on Friday issue a long-awaited "positive recommendation" for Truvada, commonly known as PrEP.
Fairfax Media understands Health Minister Greg Hunt will then move quickly to list the drug on the Pharamaceutical Benefits Scheme. That will bring the price of the drug from as much as $10,000 a year down to just $39.50 per script, or just a couple of hundred dollars a year.
Gavin Predergast says the drug will change lives.Credit: Steven Siewert
An estimated 31,000 people - mostly gay and bisexual men - will benefit from the move, including Gavin Prendergast. The 46-year-old Sydney man has been on the drug as part of a trial for the past 18 months and says it has taken the fear out of sex.
"I was around for the whole Grim Reaper thing," Mr Prendergast said, referring to the notorious 1980s AIDS advertising scare campaign.
"The fear was hammered into me early on: if you don't use condoms you're going to get AIDS and you're going to die. Sex back then was always tinged with a little bit of paranoia or fear. What if I slip up, what if I don't use a condom?
"Now we have a pill that can basically guarantee you're not going to get HIV. It's a pretty monumental change. The fear is disappearing."
Truvada has been a breakthrough in the fight against HIV.Credit: Jeff Chiu
New Zealand on Wednesday became one of the first countries in the world to publicly fund PrEP, meaning it will be subisdised from March 1. With PBAC's decision due on Friday afternoon, Australia is set to follow suit.
The antiretroviral drug is so popular among gay men - the people most likely to contract HIV - experts say it will slash the number of transmissions across the country. The drug is up to 99 per cent effective.
The drug was approved for use as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2016 but the advisory committee subsequently announced it had rejected a proposal to list it on the benefits scheme due to price concerns.
That left the drug available but prohibitively expensive - about $1000 a month - for those not part of government-funded trials.
The sponsoring pharmaceutical companies subsequently submitted fresh applications that were expected to be approved last year, but a decision was deferred - disappointing the gay community and HIV campaigners.
After months of further negotiations it now appears the positive listing is imminent.
Mr Hunt said in December said he would not pre-empt the committee's decision but "we are making very good progress" on negotiations.
"My hope is the PBAC will recommend PrEP and my commitment is if it does recommend PrEP we will list it and list it quickly," he said.
Bridget Haire, the president of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, said a listing would be a "huge step forward".
“Coupled with additional investment in health promotion, workforce skills and co-ordinated leadership, this would allow us to properly pursue the end of Australian HIV transmission in Australia," Dr Haire said. “This would be a huge advance for people at risk of HIV and also a massive benefit to the Commonwealth, as every averted HIV transmission saves close to $1 million in lifetime care and treatment costs.”
Mr Prendergast, who works for the HIV prevention group ACON, is optimistic there will be no further delays to a listing.
"HIV has nowhere to go now," he said. "Which is pretty awesome when you consider that thirty to forty years ago people were skeletons and dying in the street. It's nice to know that something as beautiful as having sex won't kill you."