The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week approved Truvada pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for adolescents, which will likely make the HIV prevention pill more widely available to a group with a disproportionately high risk of infection.

Doctors in the US can prescribe approved drugs as they deem appropriate, and many clinics have already been providing PrEP off-label for teens. But the approval should make it available in more places and make it easier to obtain insurance coverage.

"The approval of oral PrEP for adolescents is a milestone in HIV prevention for youth," said Sybil Hosek of Stroger Hospital in Chicago, who conducted studies of PrEP for teens and young adults. "This indication allows prescribers to feel confident in the safety and tolerability of PrEP for sexually active youth."

Young people age 13 to 24 accounted for 21% of new HIV diagnoses in 2016, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over 80% of these cases were among young gay and bisexual men, with young black and Latino men being most heavily affected. Read more via AIDSmap