I have the DVDs too. It's worth the lower quality just for the music. Some of the most powerful scenes are deeply tied to the nusic for me, dancing at prom, Brian's bowling, the first episode, so many more - the replacement 'music' they hacked together is horrible too...
Wow i didn't know the cellular aging part thank you. Do you have anymore info? I'm on it (or was when I could actually be around humans ;( )
The biggest downside I know about is the cost. It's insane even though i have really great insurance. Gilead does reimburse but it takes like 6 weeks or more. A low income person can't be out almost 2k for that long. Medicade/care is also a pain especially those most at risk, IV users, etc. Hopefully I've heard it goes generic soon.
I feel like we are 5-15 years away from being able to eradicate or relegate sadly to the developing world only.
The music on the show deeply influenced my musical tastes for at least a decade. The most moving scene for me personally was Brian bicycling by himself (S04E14) - for the longest time I would get weepy just thinking about it, and how it seemed to reflect where my own life was at the time. The music really tied it together - Wonderful Life by Colin Vearncombe.
The cellular aging - it's something I discovered recently myself, when it was mentioned in passing during a talk on aging. I did some reading and I think this is it:
* [Pharmacogenetic Analysis of the Model‐Based Pharmacokinetics of Five Anti‐HIV Drugs: How Does This Influence the Effect of Aging? - Chen - 2018 - Clinical and Translational Science - Wiley Online Library](https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cts.1...)
Accelerated cellular aging has been noticed in HIV+ patients for a while, and there is some growing evidence that at least some of it might be due to ART, including the formulations used in PrEP. I'm not aware of a study looking at accelerated aging in HIV -ve people using PrEP.
I suppose the risks are elevated with the daily dose regimen, and Event Driven PrEP (2+1+1) might be safer long term. Of course, Event Driven PrEP recommendations also assume fewer than two sexual encounters per week, so it's not for the more 'social' amongst us.
I'm unfamiliar with the pricing. How much is the out of pocket costs? Does Gilead reimburse the entire copay?
I was 17/18 just becoming independent in college when I discovered the show and it gave me so much confidence.
'No excuses. No apologies. No Regrets", "F*ck em all", or Justin's self actualizing speech to his therapist and mom that I won't repeat here lol.
Yeah Gilead will reimburse all the copay. I guess so they can charge insurance/government an insane amount. Which is passed along to us anyways...
I think it was like $2000 out of pocket for me for 3 month supply. and i have really really good insurance.
Yeah the one dating experience i have had in covid that actually progressed I used that short time frame dosing.
Though in normal times for most PrEP users it would seem impossible to schedule sex in advanced or too frequent to do that.
But still really good research on how effective these drugs are. maybe we'll get more research into short term PeP - though i think that's a different drug combo.
For what its worth, PrEP is not without its own costs. Besides the documented side effects, it also seems to rapidly accelerate cellular aging.