California Makes PrEP Available Without Prescription

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will make pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs for HIV-1 available in the state without a prescription. 

The law allows pharmacists to dispense up to 60 days’ worth of the PrEP drug to patients after they receive counseling on the drug’s effects and an HIV test. It prohibits insurance companies from requiring preauthorization for patients.

Gilead’s Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) was granted approval in 2012 for PrEP in at-risk adults. The approval was expanded last year to include adolescents weighing at least 77 pounds.