Barriers to HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medications among gay patients

In June 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the medication of Emtricitabine/Tenofovir for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce HIV transmission in people of high risk. Despite being the first approved medication that allows uninfected individuals to reduce the risk of HIV transmission, men who have sex with men (MSM) experience a high volume of medication barriers for PrEP from their healthcare providers. This population continues to have the highest HIV transmission incidence, and prescribers have created an accessibility and adherence barrier for this medication for MSM.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors of this medication barrier of Emtricitabine/Tenofovir between healthcare providers and their patients, which includes, but is not limited to, drug misinformation and lack of social support networks from the prescribers. The medication barrier to HIV PrEP is experienced by individuals of all ages, race and ethnicities, and social economic statuses within the men who have sex with men (MSM) population. In certain cases, this medication barrier has led individuals of the MSM population to engage in illicit markets to obtain this medication to prevent them from getting HIV, which further leads to drug non-adherence and lack of HIV status monitoring.  Better communication and social support is needed from healthcare providers, including pharmacists, to overcome this barrier for this specific population. Furthermore, the pharmacist and prescribers’ awareness of the MSM population experiences and of the Emtricitabine/Tenofovir guidelines should be understood to overcome this PrEP medication barrier for MSM.