NHS forks out £10million on trial of lifestyle pill to prevent HIV... but £8million scheme screening for bacteria that kills babies costs too much, says experts

  • NHS to spend £10million testing a controversial drug which blocks HIV 
  • But £8million screening scheme for bacteria that kills babies is snubbed 
  • Decision means other treatments wanting money will not get any in 2017

By Stephen Adams Health Correspondent For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 20:56 EST, 3 December 2016 | Updated: 02:49 EST, 5 December 2016

The cash-strapped NHS is to spend £10 million testing a controversial drug which blocks HIV infection – despite fears that it could fuel high-risk sexual behaviour.

Aids charities last night said they were ‘absolutely delighted’ at the decision, which would make a ‘life-changing difference’ to those who took the pills.

But critics warned of the danger that those taking the drug may be encouraged to have sex without condoms, and questioned the outlay at a time when the NHS faces difficult financial choices.

The decision to launch the trial involving at least 10,000 subjects – mostly gay men – comes three weeks after judges ordered NHS England to consider funding the pills.

The cash-strapped NHS is to spend £10 million testing a controversial drug which blocks HIV infection. Pictured HIV in blood stream

The study is set to take place over three years. Should it be judged successful, the prescription of the drug will be widened at an annual cost of up to £5,000 a person – adding up to a vast total bill just as the NHS is feared to be nearing a £20 billion deficit by 2020. There are thought to be about 400,000 gay and bisexual men in the UK.

The decision means a number of treatments considered for funding next year will now fall by the wayside. They include a second stem cell transplant for leukaemia patients who fail to benefit from a first transplant. The procedure costs £50,000 to £120,000 but can be a lifesaver.

Tory MP David Davies said it is ridiculous

The blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan trust said: ‘We are deeply disappointed that NHS England has confirmed that it will not routinely fund second stem cell transplants. It will deny the chance of a cure to patients whose blood cancer or disorder has tragically returned.’

Tory MP David Davies said: ‘This is just ridiculous. There are lots of people suffering from cancer and other diseases who can’t get prompt treatment because of the cost. We really need to think about what the NHS is for. It’s a national health service, not a national have-it-away service.’

The drug is known as ‘PrEP’, short for pre-exposure prophylaxis. It is believed to cut the risk of contracting HIV – the virus which causes AIDS – by close to 100 per cent if taken every day. But it will not prevent the transmission of other sexual diseases. Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of Christian Medical Fellowship, said: ‘Someone using this drug might be less careful and that could lead to an increase in other sexually transmitted infections.’

Those who only take it twice a week run a one-in-four chance of contracting the virus. Trial participants will take the pills unsupervised after being handed them at sexual health clinics. Only those ‘most at risk’ will be eligible.

Ian Green, chief executive of AIDS charity the Terrence Higgins Trust says it will save the NHS £360,000 for every person who would have become HIV positive. Pictured, charity poster

The main target group is gay men. One in 20 is now thought to be HIV-positive – and double that rate in London – compared to just one in 500 among the adult population at large. Among the 6,000 people diagnosed with HIV annually, over half are gay or bisexual men. Others to be prioritised include transgender individuals and sex workers.

Ian Green, chief executive of AIDS charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: ‘For every person who would have become HIV-positive without PrEP, the NHS will save £360,000 in lifetime treatment costs.’

BUT SIMPLE £11 TEST TO CHECK FOR BACTERIA THAT KILLS BABIES IS NOT COST EFFECTIVE

Plea: Fiona Paddon lost her son Edward to GBS but NHS says test is not 'cost effective'

A simple £11 test to check for a bacteria that kills dozens of babies a year should not be rolled out across the NHS as it is not ‘cost effective’, say Government experts.

Campaigners want all pregnant women to be screened for Group B Strep (GBS) at 37 weeks, with those testing positive given antibiotics during labour to prevent transmission.

That would stop around 330 newborns developing ‘Early Onset GBS’ (EOGBS), which kills about 35 babies a year and leaves 25 or so with life-long disabilities.

But the panel stated the ‘cost effectiveness criterion’ for the programme, which would cost around £8 million annually, was ‘not met’. They said they could not be sure screening 718,000 women a year and giving antibiotics to the 150,800 who tested positive ‘would do more good than harm’.

The panel, commissioned by the UK National Screening Committee, added: ‘Only 333 of these 150,800 women would have babies that develop EOGBS, because the test is so inaccurate for predicting EOGBS in babies. The rest would receive unnecessary treatment.’

Last night, Fiona Paddon, 42, from Greenwich, South-East London, who lost her baby Edward to GBS, said: ‘This makes me so angry. Almost one baby a week is dying from something that’s almost entirely preventable. That’s real harm. Are they saying preventing these deaths is not worthwhile?’

Jane Plumb, of charity Group B Strep Support, said: ‘Babies will needlessly develop GBS and die if screening is not introduced.’

But Dr Anne Mackie, of the UK National Screening Committee, said screening ‘could lead to a high number of mothers and babies being exposed to unnecessary antibiotic use’. 

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