HIV expert urges Quebec to offer free preventative HIV drug coverage

Advocates for Montreal’s gay community are urging the Quebec government to start offering free preventative HIV drug coverage.

Alexandre Dumont Blais is executive director of RÉZO, an organization that turned a shipping container in the Montreal Gay Village into a STI and HIV testing clinic, known as Zone Rose.

He says that Quebec should follow the lead of many other Canadian provinces and start offering free preventative HIV drug coverage.

“Our question and our demand is why, why we don’t have a free PrEP program in Quebec?” said Dumont Blais.

Provinces such as Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan offer the medication for free under their provincial health insurance for at-risk individuals.

The HIV preventive medication is known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. It’s taken by those who are HIV-negative but at risk of exposure to HIV.

Dumont Blais says that with the rise of HIV cases across Canada and with the cost of living having increased substantially, there are people who may be at risk but unable to afford the medication.

“With the health crisis and the inflation and everything, it could be a barrier to continue to take PrEP every day, but sexuality is going on. It’s still continuing.”

Barriers to accessing the HIV drug

The HIV epidemic is on the rise again in Canada with more cases in Quebec than the national average.

Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows that in 2022 there were 1,833 cases of HIV. Quebec’s rate is 4.9 cases per 100,000, slightly above the national average of 4.7.

In Montreal, the city’s public health agency saw a 120 per cent increase in HIV cases in 2022.

People covered under Quebec’s public health insurance plan, RAMQ, or by a private insurer can pay between $70 and $100 per month if they take the medication every day. However, uninsured individuals can see that amount climb to $250.

HIV specialist at McGill University Dr. Jean-Pierre Routy says free access to PrEP will reduce costs in the long-term.

“[It] will be much cheaper to have free pills to prevent HIV than to treat HIV for maybe 40, 60 years because we still don’t have a cure,” said Routy.

Routy says some of the factors that are contributing to the rise is the lack of awareness of the medication as well as barriers accessing the drug.

Another explanation for the increase of HIV cases is the rise in immigration to Quebec, says Routy.

A statement from Quebec’s Health Ministry reads, “Currently, there are no plans to reimburse 100 per cent of HIV medication costs […] It’s worth noting that economically vulnerable individuals, such as those receiving social assistance, receive free medications under the public drug insurance plan, which includes HIV medications.”

Adding that, pharmacists in Quebec can prescribe PrEP, making it more accessible, and that generic versions of the medication are available at a lower cost.