PrEP Trials and the Politics of Provision

This project will explore motivations and discourses surrounding national trials relating to HIV Pre- Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) undertaken in England over the past decade. It will utilise interviews with key stakeholders and a review of contemporary media accounts, blogs and other documentary sources to examine the ways in which the design, recruitment and gatekeeping associated with these trials may be shaping expectations of treatment availability and considerations of the ‘ideal’ PrEP user. In particular, this project will facilitate analysis of key events leading up to the expedited implementation of a ‘demonstration’ trial (called IMPACT) when it became clear (following on from evidence of PrEP’s efficacy through England’s PROUD trial alongside other international data sources) that neither England’s National Health Service nor Local Authorities would routinely commission PrEP in 2017.
Research Aim:
To examine the political and social underpinnings of England’s current HIV PrEP trial, and its likely longer-term impacts.
Research Objectives:
1. Better understand the policy context from which England’s IMPACT trial emerged.
2. Gain insight into the direct and indirect goals of England’s IMPACT trial - from a diverse range of clinical, policy and advocacy perspectives.
3. Assess the extent to which the trial has the capacity to meet those diverse clinical, pragmatic and political goals.
4. Consider the broader clinical, policy and social implications of the trial (both in its original inception, and with the changes it continues to undergo).

This is a research project about England’s clinical trials for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). A key aim of this research is gain insight into the political and social background of the current IMPACT trial, informing an assessment of the future of PrEP in England. The study will collect information through interviews with a small number of key stakeholders as well as analysing official documentation alongside community and media coverage of this trial and its predecessor (the PROUD study).

analysis is ongoing - fieldwork is concluded