Highlights

• ” TAF is just something that honestly we do not know the real true long-term toxicity of well enough, but we know it does not have the signature toxicities of TDF, renal and bone, and if you turn it around and say I prefer another way, have less chemistry, and give dual regimens to patients avoiding TDF or abacavir with the associated cardiovascular risk, that would just be another way of dealing with this kind of toxicity. You generally accept that TDF toxicity is a problem that should be avoided. “
• ” So, actually it [Biktarvy] is a combination of a drug that is as good as the best drug on the market so far, and available with a preferred nucleoside analog backbone in a single pill, and in addition it is a relatively cheap option to treat. These three things make it very interesting, I think. “
• ” There are two promises [for two-drug regimens], one promise is less chemistry, less toxicity, and that is still not proven, in comparison with TDF it is always easy to prove that there is less harm to the bone and kidney, but that is not the question today anymore because we have TAF. The second thing is that less drugs means less cost, and again that is not really true for the already licensed drug, Juluca, which is actually more expensive than the bictegravir triple-drug regimen, in Germany at least. “