HIV-positive transplants now permitted for livers and kidneys

People with HIV are now permitted to donate kidneys or livers to recipients who are also HIV-positive, health officials announced on Tuesday.

The new rule — part of the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act — is intended to shorten wait times for transplants, as reported by the AP. It went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

"This rule removes unnecessary barriers to kidney and liver transplants, expanding the organ donor pool and improving outcomes for transplant recipients with HIV," said U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement, per the AP.

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Prior to this change, HIV-positive organs were only allowed as part of research studies, which the government began allowing in 2013.

The decision comes on the heels of a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that recipients of organs from HIV-positive donors had "similar high rates of overall survival and low rates of organ rejection" over a four-year period, the AP reported.

A total of 500 kidney and liver transplants from HIV-positive donors have been performed in the U.S. as part of research studies.

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"Research shows that kidney and liver transplants between donors and recipients with HIV can be performed safely and effectively," Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel L. Levine, M.D., added in the HHS’ announcement. 

"This policy change reflects our commitment to following the evidence and updating our approaches as we learn more. By removing research requirements where they are no longer needed, we can help more people with HIV access life-saving transplants."

Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News, practices at NYU Langone Health, which performed 576 organ transplants in 2023.

"I don't have a problem with HIV organs being used, because we have people dying on waiting lists here," Siegel told Fox News Digital. "It increases the supply at a time when the demand is so great."

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"HIV is now a chronic disease, and what matters is viral load — and we can get that viral load to zero," he went on.

"Giving HIV positive organs to HIV positive recipients makes total sense. There's no additional risk there."

Most people in the U.S. who are on the national kidney transplant waiting list will wait three to five years, according to the American Kidney Fund.

The wait for a liver transplant can be up to five years, per the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is also seeking public comment on taking steps toward allowing heart, lung and pancreas transplants from HIV-positive donors, the HHS reported.