22 April 2021 - Closer examination suggests otherwise.

We are all familiar with the combination of the two anti-HIV medicines tenofovir and emtricitabine, first launched as the brand Truvada.

Truvada was first approved for use in combination with other anti-retroviral medicines for the treatment of patients with HIV infection. It was later approved for use in pre-exposure prophylaxis (so called PrEP).

Many will recall the PBS listing of Truvada for PrEP in 2018 was associated with the concurrent listing of two generic brands and the move of the combination to the F2 formulary. How on earth can Tenofovir Emtricitabine Sandoz be a first generic?

Tenofovir Emtricitabine Sandoz is the combination of tenofovir disoproxil succinate and emtricitabine; Truvada is the combination of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine.

This subtle difference will be missed by most casual readers/observers.  The TGA has a responsibility to make these subtle differences far more apparent.

We consider Tenofovir Emtricitabine Sandoz to be a new formulation of Truvada and its related generics.