The first European community center dedicated to the HIV/AIDS prevention pill opens in Barcelona

PrEP – the preventive HIV/AIDS pill – may not be approvedin Spain, yet, but the BCN PrEP·Point center, dedicated to the medication, is already a reality. Opened by the BCN CheckPoint organization, the objective of this Barcelona center is to advance any work possible and provide information on this medication, even before it becomes accessible in Spain.  

This is why it will be working at first with those who are taking the pill “on their own accord,” stated Ferran Pujol, director of the BCN CheckPoint, in order to achieve adherence to the treatment. The benefits of the medication would translate in a decrease of infection, which currently sits at 2 per day in Catalonia.  Pujol stated that it was necessary to begin working with a tool that would prevent more contagion.

A smaller sample size

It’s calculated that around 100 people will participate in the study promoted by PreEP·Point. With the resulting data, it will then be possible to study the behavior of participants and the effect this has on the number of infections. 

The target number set by the Department of Health is set at some 10,000 individuals. Yet, according to the BCN Checkpoint director, this number is too high. Indeed, he stressed that the study sample size must be smaller to verify the effects of the drug, as not all transgender women or men who have intercourse with other men wish to undergo the treatment.  

Both Pujol and the medical director of the center, Pep Coll, agreed that 1,700 people would be sufficient, describing previous studies that were done with a size of less than 4,000, and achieving a 90% fall in infection. To obtain this reduction, according to Pujol, “it’s not necessary to immunize the whole population.” Still, he noted that infection is for life, and could cost up to €150,000 in treatment.