The price of PrEP medicine went down more than 30 percent today and is now less than 50€ for 30 pills! According to our survey targeted to men who have sex with men, 50 euros is the maximum price per month people are willing to pay for the PrEP meds.
The generic PrEP medicines arrived at Finnish pharmacies in May 2019 along with guidelines for health professionals (only in Finnish) from The National Institute for Health and Welfare. Until yesterday the lowest price for PrEP medicine has been 75 euros per 30 tablets, which is not affordable for all potential PrEP users. Today (15th of January) there has been a change in the price range of PrEP medicines and it’s now available for 50 euros per 30 tablets.
Hivpoint and HIV Finland conducted an internet survey in 2017, addressing sexual health issues of men who have sex with men. Over 1000 men completed the survey. According to the survey 50 euros per 30 tablets is the maximum price that people are willing to pay for PrEP medication.
It is possible to get PrEP treatment form the public health care in Finland. The doctor’s appointment and lab tests are free, but the users have to pay for the medicines themselves. The national health care insurance (KELA) doesn’t compensate PrEP medication.
If you live in the Helsinki area you can get prep treatment at the Venereal Diseases Outpatient Clinic in Meilahti. In other parts of Finland PrEP treatment is mainly carried out by the infectious diseases’ clinics. The queue for the treatment is long in the Helsinki area. It can take up to three months to get the appointment. If you have a high-risk of getting HIV, you can ask about PrEP from you doctor or from Hivpoint by emailing prep(at)hivpoint.fi. You can also directly contact the health care units that carry out PrEP treatment in your area.
Note that Hivpoint’s services are on hold from 5th of July until the 8th of August 2021. During that period the messages that are send to prep(at)hivpoint.fi will unfortunately not be replied.
The availability of the medication can vary between pharmacies. At most pharmacies you can check the availability from their webpage. You should be prepared that the time of delivery for the medicines can be a few days.