3.3% Annual Reduction of PrEP Coverage Would Result in Thousands of HIV Infections, Cost Billions

A 3.3% annual reduction in preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) coverage over 10 years would result in 8,618 preventable HIV infections and cost $3.6 billion in lifetime medical costs, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open. The preprint was published in April 2025.

“Our cost estimates are conservative, in that the costs included in our calculations only address the lifetime medical costs of those people who are estimated to acquire new HIV infections because of less PrEP coverage,” corresponding author Patrick S. Sullivan, DVM, Ph.D., Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, and his colleagues write in the study. “We do not include the costs of secondary HIV infections that would likely occur from individuals acquiring HIV in our model in the interval between their HI