NHS to appeal historic HIV prevention drug ruling

Wi NAT (National AIDS Trust) has urged NHS England not to abandon its appeal against the historic ruling by the High Court this week that said NHS England did have the power to commission the HIV prevention drug PrEP.

Deborah Gold, chief executive of NAT, says: “We want NHS England to abandon its appeal, to allow the commissioning process to take its course and to stop pre-empting publicly the discussions and decisions which should properly take place in the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group.”

NHS England has stated that it has considered the judgment carefully and that “Queen’s Counsel has advised that the court’s ruling interprets the legislation governing NHS England’s role and functions in a way that is inconsistent with Parliament’s intention.

“On this basis, NHS England requested permission to appeal the judgment, which was granted with a commitment to expedite the hearing as far as possible.”