By NewsDesk  @bactiman63

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new low-dose tablet dosage form of Biktarvy® (bictegravir 30 mg/emtricitabine 120 mg/tenofovir alafenamide 15 mg tablets) for pediatric patients weighing at least 14 kg to less than 25 kg who are virologically suppressed or new to antiretroviral therapy. The approval of this supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) expands the indication for Biktarvy to include younger children living with HIV-1 infection and will help to close the gap between HIV treatment options available for adults and children.

Image/NIH

“Children living with HIV are in need of effective and accessible formulations of antiretroviral therapy,” said Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Gilead Sciences. “To address this unmet need, innovations in pediatric formulations must strive towards expanding treatment options for children. The sNDA approval is an important step in fulfilling Gilead’s commitment to a goal of bringing pediatric formulations of Biktarvy to children living with HIV around the world.”

While effective available treatment options for pregnant women living with HIV lower the likelihood of perinatal HIV infection transmission, pediatric HIV remains a global health problem. Each day in 2020, approximately 850 children worldwide became infected with HIV and approximately 330 children died from AIDS-related causes, mostly because of inadequate access to HIV care and treatment services. The availability of a single-tablet antiretroviral regimen for children weighing at least 14 kg is a significant milestone with the potential to save many lives.

“As children living with HIV will be on therapy for the foreseeable future and from such a young age, there are a number of factors I weigh as a clinician when prescribing the right HIV treatment option to my pediatric patients,” said Carina Rodriguez, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. “Finding an efficacious treatment option is paramount, but tolerability and safety are keys to ensuring treatment success. With this expanded approval, clinicians can add Biktarvy to their arsenal of options to help ensure these children maintain virologic suppression with a treatment option that makes sense for them.”

Biktarvy does not cure HIV or AIDS.