Janssen's Rezolsta HIV combination to be funded in England

England's National Health Service is to fund Janssen's Rezolsta (darunavir+cobicistat) once-daily HIV combination drug.

Cost-effectiveness body NICE does not assess HIV treatments for England, the decision being taken instead by NHS England under its own commissioning arrangements.

Janssen noted that NHS England's decision means clinicians will be able to routinely prescribe darunavir, a commonly prescribed protease inhibitor, and a cobicistat booster in a single tablet.

The combination pill improves adherence by reducing the number of seperate medications a patient has to take. Adherence is important to ensure HIV does not become resistant to medication.

Initially the British HIV Association reviews the clinical profile of an HIV medicine and consequently generates clinical guidelines.

NHS England then reviews the guidance along with the clinical profile and costs before making its own funding decisions based on the strength of the information.

It will then, depending on the medicine, publish a commissioning policy.

NHS England last week decided to scale back plans for Gilead's Truvada (emtricitabine+tenofovir) in HIV prevention, prompting criticism from HIV charities.

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