Written by Dr.Deyn Natthakhet Yaemim (Founding Director) on 6 June 2016, Last updated 1 June 2021

There are many PrEP brands available in the market right now.
Here, we'll help you learn about the fact and differences of the look of all legit PrEP pills available in the market in 2021.
Here we'll learn 2 things
1. FACTS ABOUT LEGIT PrEP PILLS
2. WHERE CAN I GET PrEP

Thailand provides affordable generics medications as well as original medications, in the last 5 years there are more people travelling from more than 130 countries around the world to receive affordable high quality healthcare in Thailand.

PULSE clinic is established since 2015 in the center of Bangkok, expanded to tourist destination such as Phuket island, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

In the past years, we have received thousands of patients receiving either HIV prevention service or HIV treatment service in our branches. One of the most common questions is about how legit is the drug and how to identify real drugs.

The Monthly Index of Medical Specialities or MIMS is a pharmaceutical prescribing reference guide published in the United Kingdom since 1959 by Haymarket Media Group. The guide contains information about branded and generic drugs in many countries, United Kingdom, Thailand, Hong Kong and Malaysia included. We are going to use photos from MIMS as a reference of the pill. 

We would like to discuss about one medication (with many brands available nowadays) which can be used as prevention (PrEP or PEP) and also be used as part of combination for HIV treatment, Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg, the 2 in 1 pill that is used widely around the world today.

As of 1 January 2021, Thailand has 4 brands of Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg registered and distributed plus 3 more brands of the new PrEP approved in 2019;

1. TRUVADA® (Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg), made by GILEAD in Germany, distributed worldwide, South East Asia and Thailand included.
2. TENO-EM (Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg), made in Thailand by The Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO)
3. RICOVIR-EM (Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg), made by Mylan in India, imported to Thailand
4. TENOF-EM (Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg), made by HETERO in India, imported to Thailand
5. DESCOVY® (New PrEP FDA Approved in 2019)
6. TAFICITA (Generic Descovy - New PrEP FDA Approved in 2019)
7. TAFERO-EM (Generic Descovy - New PrEP FDA Approved in 2019)

FACTS ABOUT LEGIT PrEP PILLS FROM DIFFERENT MANUFACTURERS?

PrEP Pill	Details
	Brand: TRUVADA Drug inside: Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg Manufacturer: GILEAD Science Manufactured in:  Countries distributed: USA, UK, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, GERMANY, SINGAPORE, HONG KONG FDA Approved since: 2004 FDA Approved for PrEP since: 2012 How to take this PrEP medication Where to get this PrEP medication Note: This is GILEAD's TRUVADA pill sold outside of Thailand. Observe the blue colour with one side branded "GILEAD" and the other side doesn't have number "701" on it. People from developed countries such as USA, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore are used to this look of their Truvada pill.
	Brand: TRUVADA Drug inside: Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg Manufacturer: GILEAD Science Manufactured in:  Countries distributed: Thailand FDA Approved since: 2004 FDA Approved for PrEP since: 2012 How to take this PrEP medication Where to get this PrEP medication Note: This is GILEAD's TRUVADA pill sold in Thailand. Observe the lighter/pale blue colour with one side branded "GILEAD" as Truvada sold outside of Thailand but the other side doesn't have number "701" on it. Don't freak out when you receive Truvada in Thailand and find out it is light blue without 701, This is not fake pill. They are legit Truvada from GILEAD made in Germany.
	Brand: TENO-EM Drug inside: Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg Manufacturer: GILEAD Science Manufactured in:  Countries distributed: THAILAND, HONG KONG, SINGAPORE FDA Approved since: 2004 FDA Approved as PrEP since: 2014 How to take this PrEP medication Where to get this PrEP medication Note: This is the TENO-EM pill manufactured made in Thailand by The Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) sold in Thailand, Hong Kong and around the world. Observe the pale blue colour with one side branded " T|E " and the other side doesn't have anything on it.
	Brand: RICOVIR-EM Drug inside: Emtricitabine 200mg/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate 300mg Manufacturer: GILEAD Science Manufactured in:  Countries distributed: THAILAND, INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA FDA Approved since: 2004 FDA Approved as PrEP since: 2014 How to take this PrEP medication Where to get this PrEP medication Note: This is the RICOVIR-EM pill manufactured by Mylan in India, sold around the world. Observe the blue colour very similar to the Truvada, with one side branded "M117" and the other side doesn't have anything on it.

These pills are tested and approved by Thai FDA, ministry of health. They are being used for treatment to suppress HIV effectively among hundreds of thousands people living with HIV in Thailand. Our clinic tested the drug level from each company using a blood test that detects the levels of active drugs Tenofovir (TDF) and Emtricitabine (FTC) that form the PrEP protection (and viral suppression) in the blood. This test is known as Therapeutic Drug Monitoring or TDM. Recent research reported the results of over 100 of those tests – and found no evidence that the drugs are not genuine. If you would like to do this test, contact PULSE CLINIC today.

WHERE CAN I GET PrEP?

 Thailand
PULSE Clinic Silom Bangkok info.silom@pulse-clinic.com Tel: +66959156385 
PULSE Clinic Nana Bangkok info.nana@pulse-clinic.com Tel: +66959156385 
PULSEClinic Phromphong, Sukhumvit 37, Bangkok  +66924979353
PULSE Clinic Patong Beach, Phuket info.phuket@pulse-clinic.com Tel: +66076633368, +66952615282 
PULSE Clinic Airport Link Phayathai, Bangkok (Open April 2021)
EU Clinic – Executive Health Asoke, Bangkok (Coming soon)
EU Clinic – Executive Health Ploenchit, Bangkok (Coming soon)

 Malaysia
PULSE Clinic Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur info.kl@pulse-clinic.com Tel: +60321102122, +601165388678
PULSE Clinic Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur info.kl@pulse-clinic.com Tel: +60321102122, +601165388678

 Hong Kong
PULSE Clinic Central, Hong Kong info.hk@pulse-clinic.com Tel: +852 2389 8250 

 Singapore
PULSE Clinic Tanjong Pagar, Singapore info.sg@pulse-clinic.com  +6569745919  +6589451492

Other Countries Without PULSE CLINICS and EU Clinic, contact #BuyPrEPonline

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