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Health Minister hails ‘powerful new option for people at risk of HIV’ during visit to King’s

17 October 2025 - Ashley Dalton MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, met with staff at the Trust’s Caldecot Centre

On Wednesday 15 October 2025, King’s welcomed Ashley Dalton MP to discuss HIV treatment and prevention, ahead of an NHS England announcement that a new long-acting injection to prevent HIV transmission will be made available on the NHS.

The cabotegravir injection will be for people at risk of HIV who cannot take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) tablets, following approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

PrEP drugs prevent people who are HIV-negative from acquiring the virus. If a person is exposed to HIV, the injection works by blocking an enzyme called integrase, which the virus needs to make copies of itself. This stops the virus from multiplying in the body and becoming an established infection.

Ashley Dalton MP at a roundtable discussion with King's staff

Ashley Dalton MP met with staff at King’s including Julie Lowe, Deputy Chief Executive; Dr Michael Brady, Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV at King’s and National Advisor for LGBT+ Health at NHS England; Hayley Cheetham, HIV Clinic Senior Nurse; Dr Kate Childs, Clinical Lead for HIV Medicine; Marie Rousseau, HIV Welfare and Support Practitioner; and Clara Marukutira, HIV Peer Support Worker. The visit included a roundtable discussion about the work happening at King’s around HIV testing and prevention, addressing health inequalities, supporting people living with HIV to engage in care, and overcoming the stigma of HIV.

Dr Michael Brady said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Ashley Dalton MP to King’s, and discuss the roll-out of injectable PrEP. This long-acting injection is a significant addition to our HIV prevention strategies – giving us a powerful new option for people at risk of HIV who cannot take oral PrEP tablets, and helping ensure everyone who needs PrEP can access it.

“We have made huge progress in HIV treatment and prevention in the last decade, and the addition of injectable PrEP will bring us a step closer to our goal of ending HIV transmissions by 2030.”