{"id":11517,"date":"2025-11-01T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/?page_id=11517"},"modified":"2025-11-07T10:59:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:59:40","slug":"what-is-prep","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/prep\/what-is-prep","title":{"rendered":"What is PrEP, PEP and doxyPEP?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-16301\" src=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/logos-for-prep.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"238\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>PrEP stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>HIV PrEP is taken before sex, so it is pre-exposure. But it also needs to be taken afterwards too. Prophylaxis means to prevent something.<\/li>\n<li>Last year, more than 100,000 people in the UK started or continued oral PrEP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Oral PrEP usually contains two HIV drugs in a single pill. This is usually <strong>TD<\/strong> (tenofovir disoproxil) plus FTC.<\/p>\n<p>A version using <strong>TAF<\/strong> (tenofovir alafenamide) instead of TD is used by the NHS if you have kidney or bone issues. This includes in people younger than 20 when bones are still growing. <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/prep\/buying-prep-online\">Generic TAF\/FTC can also be bought cheaply online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In October 2025, PrEP using a 2-monthly injection of cabotegravir was approved in England, Scotland and Wales for people who cannot use oral PrEP. [1]<\/p>\n<p>Studies are also ongoing using a 6-monthly injection of lenacapavir. This includes the PURPOSE 5 study in the UK and France which is still recruiting. Lenacapavir PrEP will not be widely available outside a study for at least another year. [2]<\/p>\n<h2>PEP and doxyPEP<\/h2>\n<p>PrEP is different to <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/factsheets\/pep-faq\">HIV PEP<\/a>. [3]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/factsheets\/pep-faq\">PEP<\/a> involves taking one month of HIV drugs AFTER unprotected sex to reduce the chance of HIV. HIV PEP can only be used by people who are HIV negative.<\/p>\n<p>DoxyPEP involves taking a single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline after sex to reduce the chance of syphilis and chlamydia. New guidelines on doxyPEP in the UK were published in June 2025. [4]<\/p>\n<p>DoxyPEP can be used by anyone at risk of these STIs. This includes people who are HIV positive or HIV negative.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/meningococcal-b-menb-vaccination-against-gonorrhoea-guide\/a-guide-to-the-meningococcal-b-vaccine-for-protection-against-gonorrhoea#:~:text=From%20August%202025%2C%20gay%2C%20bisexual,protect%20them%20against%20gonorrhoea%20infections\">a vaccine to prevent gonorrhoea<\/a> became available in the UK.. [5]<\/p>\n<p>References<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>NICE approves limited access to injectable cabotegravir PrEP in England and Wales.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/52527\">https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/52527<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Gilead Sciences PURPOSE 5 study.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purposestudies.com\/purpose5\">www.purposestudies.com\/purpose5<\/a><\/li>\n<li>i-Base. All you need to know about HIV PEP.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/factsheets\/pep-faq\">i-base.info\/qa\/factsheets\/pep-faq<\/a><\/li>\n<li>i-Base. UK guidelines on doxyPEP to prevent syphilis. (June 2025)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/51304\">i-base.info\/htb\/51304<\/a><\/li>\n<li>UKHSA. <span style=\"font-variant-caps: normal;\">A guide to the Meningococcal B vaccine for protection against Gonorrhoea. (June 2025)<br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/meningococcal-b-menb-vaccination-against-gonorrhoea-guide\/a-guide-to-the-meningococcal-b-vaccine-for-protection-against-gonorrhoea#:~:text=From%20August%202025%2C%20gay%2C%20bisexual,protect%20them%20against%20gonorrhoea%20infections.\">www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/meningococcal-b-menb-vaccination-against-gonorrhoea-guide\/a-guide-to-the-meningococcal-b-vaccine-for-protection-against-gonorrhoea<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PrEP stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis. HIV PrEP is taken before sex, so it is pre-exposure. But it also needs to be taken afterwards too. Prophylaxis means to prevent something. Last year, more than 100,000 people in the UK started or &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":11507,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-guides.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11517","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11517"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19109,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11517\/revisions\/19109"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}