New HIV drug may end multi-pill regimen for older people

DW News · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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It could mark the "first advance to benefit people" who have been living with HIV for decades but are forced to treat it with complex, multi-pill regimens: a once a day pill that works just as well, according to the results of a new clinical trial. HIV — the human immunodeficiency virus — was once described as a "death sentence" for infected people, inhibiting their immune systems and putting them at risk of fatal infections or cancer. While modern medicines have improved the lives of people with HIV, such that they can suppress the virus and not pass it on to others, the success of therapy relies on specific regimens tailored to each individual patient. For some of the oldest people living with HIV, that can be an unsatisfying and potentially challenging scenario: Once-a-day pills used by some younger patients are not always effective in older groups. That's because early HIV treatments may have led to drug resistance in those older groups, requiring them to take highly specialized, multi-pill regimens now. Lenacapavir is a recently approved injected HIV drug. The new trial delivers the medicine, combined with another antiviral medicine called bictegravir, in a single pill.Image: Nardus Engelbrecht/AP Photo/picture alliance A single pill, rather than a dozen The clinical trial is testing a pill called BIC/LEN, which combines the antiviral drugs bictegravir and lenacapavir. The researchers hope it will become of a more convenient daily routine for older people living with HIV. "This is a drug for people who have viral resistance, who haven't been able to benefit from advances in HIV therapy," said Chloe Orkin, a Professor of Infection and Inequities at Queen Mary University of London, and lead researcher in the trial. Orkin's team assembled the oldest group ever for an HIV drug trial. With an average age of 60 years, and some participants in their eighties, participants were either given BIC/LEN once a day, or kept on a complex, daily multi-pill regimen, over a nine-month period. Both regimens suppressed the virus in around 96% of the people. But the BIC/LEN pill also improved cholesterol levels, which could be of particular benefit for patients at risk of cardiovascular disease in later life. Ugandans hope for access to HIV injection drug, Lenacapavir To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Helping 'a population for whom time stood still' Though advances in HIV medicine have benefited many people, those who are older and living long-term with the disease have been deprived of convenient treatment programs. "This is a population for whom time has effectively stood still, because none of these advances have benefited them," Orkin said. Complex medical regimens also run the risk of low adherence, that a single missed pill could undo vital gains in treatment. The BIC/LEN users reported higher satisfaction than those on the complex regimen. That's something that could make a substantial difference to the quality of life of the group as it advances in age. While acknowledging the need to still successfully pass through regulatory approvals, the results of the trial have been welcomed by HIV advocates. "From the individual's perspective, this simplifies drug taking," said Mitchell Warren, executive director the HIV prevention advocacy group AVAC, which was not involved in the trial. "That is an incredible opportunity to make it simple for people to adhere to their drugs, to stay virologically suppressed. And that’s not only good for their lives as someone living with HIV, but we know from data over the last 15 years that people on antiretroviral therapy, who are virally suppressed, are not going to transmit the virus to anyone else." The BIC/LEN pill is undergoing two follow-up assessments but is set to be submitted for approval by regulators, including the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency. "The drug is also being tested against a gold-standard HIV therapy in people who don't have complex regimens, and it’s worked very well in them, too, so it's a general advance in HIV therapy," said Orkin. The trial data was published February 25, 2026, in The Lancet medical journal. Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany