IrsiCaixa

The combination of the antiretrovirals bictegravir and lenacapavir in a single tablet allows HIV treatment —previously based on multiple daily medications— to be simplified, according to the results of a new phase 3 clinical trial published in The Lancet. The trial, which included over 550 people living with HIV from 15 countries with a median age of 60, showed that the new treatment was just as effective at maintaining viral suppression as multi-drug regimens. Most participants were taking between two and eleven tablets daily, and around 40 % were on antiretrovirals more than once a day. The results were presented at the 2026 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Denver, USA.

Stem cell transplants in cancer patients have achieved complete remission of HIV in a few cases in people who are also HIV-positive. However, in most cases, the donors were homozygous—with two identical copies of the gene—for a mutation in the CCR5 gene that is considered protective against the virus. A German team has now reported a new case of remission in a 60-year-old man with leukemia—called the “second Berlin patient”—in which the donor was heterozygous (only one of the two copies contained the mutation), which could broaden the alternatives. The results are published in the journal Nature.

The risk of HIV transmission through breastfeeding is very low, but it is not non-existent in women living with HIV who have undetectable levels in their blood. Now, for the first time, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has been able to test for HIV in the milk of two such women: one elite controller (who maintains low viral loads without antiretrovirals) and another who had been on treatment for years. Although small amounts of viral DNA were found, the virus was not infectious. The results show that such testing is possible and help confirm the very low risk of transmission.

The Science group is simultaneously publishing four papers (two in the journal Science, one in Science Immunology and one in Science Translational Medicine) that include advances in a sequential vaccination strategy for an effective HIV vaccine. The methods employed aim to obtain broad-spectrum neutralising antibodies and one of the proposals is already in clinical trials. 

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has analysed the effectiveness of the antiviral drug Paxlovid after implantation of the omicron variant. The relative risk of severe disease decreased markedly in patients over 65 years of age, both vaccinated and unvaccinated. No differences were found in those under 65 years of age.