Latest HIV/AIDS in youth research and news: What you need to know

National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is Sunday, April 10, and health officials and advocates across the United States seek to educate the public about the impact the disease has on children and adolescents.

Listed below is a sampling of the latest news and research on HIV/AIDS in youth. Here’s what you need to know:

FDA approves Descovy for treatment of HIV for patients 12 years and older

Descovy (emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide [F/TAF]; Gilead Sciences) is administered as a single oral tablet taken daily in combination with other antiretroviral agents. The formulation includes 200 mg emtricitabine and 25 mg tenofovir alafenamide, and it is indicated for adults and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older without hepatitis B virus infection and with creatinine clearance of at least 30 mL/min.

“As part of a single tablet regimen or partnered with a third agent, the components of Descovy offer patients a simple and effective combination with a safety profile that has the potential to improve health,” Norbert Bischofberger, PhD, executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer at Gilead Sciences, said in a press release. “With today’s approval, Gilead is now able to offer patients and providers in the United States a range of options from our TAF-based portfolio, which is designed to help address the diverse needs of HIV patients worldwide.” Read more.

First successful HIV-positive to HIV-positive organ transplant in the United States

A team from Johns Hopkins Medicine successfully performed the first HIV-positive to HIV-Positive kidney transplant in the United States, and the first HIV-positive to HIV-positive liver transplant in the world.

“This is a very exciting day for us to be able to transplant patients with HIV, but it’s really only the beginning,” Dorry L. Segev, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said during the event. “We’re in the process of teaching transplant centers across the country the protocols that we’ve put together, sharing with them our experience and our safety measures and things that we’ve put into place so that patients can have the opportunity for these HIV-to-HIV transplants across the United States.” Read more.

Perinatal HIV-exposure associated with language impairments in preschool children

In data recently presented at CROI 2016, an increased risk for language impairment was reported among HIV-exposed, but uninfected children aged 3 to 5 years. However, no overall risk was found to be associated with ART. Read more.

Patients need safe environment to discuss sexual identity, potential risks

Health care providers need to provide a safe, nonjudgmental space for patients to discuss their sexual orientation and identity, which will better allow physicians to make recommendations for HIV testing and hepatitis vaccines based on potential risk factors. Read more.

FDA approves Odefsey for treatment of HIV

The new regimen contains 200 mg emtricitabine (Gilead Sciences), 25 mg Edurant (rilpivirine, Janssen Therapeutics) and 25 mg tenofovir alafenamide (Gilead Sciences; TAF), and represents the smallest pill of any single tablet regimen, the release said. It is the second TAF-based regimen approved by the FDA and is indicated for patients aged 12 years and older with no history of ART and maximum HIV-1 RNA levels of 100,000 copies/mL. Read more.