Intro: From the JAMA Network, this is the JAMA Medical News Podcast, discussing timely topics in clinical medicine, biomedical sciences. Public Health and Health Policy featured in the Medical News section of JAMA. [JAMA Network and JN Learning]

Abbasi: On today's show, we're discussing the state of one of the most powerful tools in HIV prevention. pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, including how the landscape has changed in light of both scientific advances and access challenges I'm Jennifer Abbasi, Director of JAMA Medical News. Associate Managing Editor Kate Schweitzer is here to tell us about the news. Kate, thanks for joining. Thanks, Jen. So how transformative has PrEP really been in the goal to end the HIV epidemic?

Schweitzer: It's hard to overstate. To the experts I spoke with, it's one of the most important breakthroughs in medical history. When taken as prescribed, PrEP can reduce the risk of acquiring HIV by more than 99%. A bit of background, the first form of PrEP, a daily oral pill, was approved in the US in 2012. Since then, we've seen a rapid evolution in options. There's now also long-acting injectable medications that can be given every two months or even every six months. There's on-demand PrEP, and trials are testing a once-a-month pill. This menu of options is important. It gives patients choice and studies suggest that substantially increases uptake. And we're already seeing that impact. PrEP use among eligible individuals has grown dramatically. By 2024, nearly 600,000 people in the U. S. were using it. At the same time, HIV diagnoses have been declining. Experts acknowledge that it's difficult to attribute that trend to any single factor, but regions with higher PrEP coverage have seen the largest reductions in new infections. In states with the highest uptake, new infections drop by nearly forty percent. According to doctor Anna Person, an infectious disease physician at Vanderbilt University, we now have the tools we need to end this epidemic in the US.

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Webinar: April 21, 2026 12:00 PM CT. From Awareness to Action: Increasing HPV Vaccine Referrals in Dental Settings. Jennifer Sukalski, PhD, MS, RDH, Assistant Professor, Preventive and Community Dentistry, University of Iowa. More details and to register>

Additional Information:  Direct-to-Consumer Telemedicine for HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis—Profit Meets Public Health, JAMA Network, 12.1.2025.  

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