What If A Patient Misses A PrEP Tablet

If a person misses an occasional tablet of PrEP, it’s not a huge impact on the efficacy of the drug. The most important thing is that we want to reinforce that people take the tablet every day. An occasional missed tablet is not going to greatly reduce the protection against HIV. The protection against HIV infection drops off significantly, when people are taking less than four tablets a week. In patients who are struggling to take the tablet on a regular basis, it’s great to be able to have some time to brainstorm ways to help ensure that this person can get into a routine of taking their tablet every day.
If somebody misses a tablet, they don’t need to double up the next day. Also, some patients are worried that if they have a particularly highly active period of sex, that they should double up on their medicines. This is not the case. A single tablet every day is the effective dose. There is no need to increase the amount of medicine taken, if there is an increase in sexual activity.