CROI 2026: Overview and research to watch out for
23 February 2026. Related: Early access, Conference reports, CROI 33 (Retrovirus) 2026.
Simon Collins, HIV i-Base
From 22–25 February 2026, CROI will be held in Denver, Colorado and also as a hybrid meeting for online delegates.
This article covers selected themes and research at CROI 2026 – one of the most important international HIV medical conferences.
Three key themes of the conference are already set by the opening lectures: progress over 30 years towards finding a cure (by Professor Sharon Lewin), responding to the political assault on science by the Trump administration (by activist Peter Staley) and collaborative progress into HIV prevention (by Professor Linda-Gail Bekker).
The following clinical highlights to watch will be updated with reference to specific studies after the relevant embargoes are lifted. Please check back later for these.
This includes:
- ART pipeline: new HIV drugs and combinations
- bNAbs in different settings
- PrEP pipeline and new approaches to PEP
- Cure-related research and the viral reservoir
- Political changes and the impact of US funding cuts
- New studies on drug resistance
- Monitoring tests
- GLP-1 agonists for weight loss (and other indications)
- Other complications of HIV and/or ART
- Research in specific populations
ART pipeline: new HIV drugs and combinations
New combinations, including as switch options and those in specific populations, will be presented.
The oral presentations – also for the pipeline drugs below – included very lively Q&A discussions, in some cases questioning the study designs and approaches to research given the high efficacy of current ART.
- Bictegravir/lenacapavir (formulated as a tiny tablet for daily oral ART in ARTISTRY).
- Once-daily oral doravirine/islatravir, including with renal impairment.
- Injectable lenacapavir plus two bNAbs (teropavimab and zinlirvimab).
- Once-weekly oral lenacapavir+islatravir (coformulated for phase 3 studies).
- 4-monthly N6LS – now named lotivibart (another bNAb) with monthly cabotegravir-LA injections.
- Very early data on a possible NRTI (depulfavirine).
- Off-label use of injectable cabotegravir-LA with injectable lenacapavir in several studies (including in people with detectable viral load).
The meeting will also include research on why some of these combinations fail and the role of drug resistance.
Most of the studies of potential new drugs will be in long-acting formulations especially focussed on 6-monthly injections and other novel pipeline compounds.
These include integrase inhibitors (4-monthly injectable cabotegravir and 6-monthly long-acting injectable formulations of GS-3242 and VH-184), capsid inhibitors (6-monthly VH-499), NNRTIs (a >6-monthly doravirine removable implant), the NRTTI MK-8591 and bNAbs (see below). Also a poster on a Chinese FDC with ainuovirine/3TC/TDF.
bNAbs in different settings
In addition to the studies above, other studies will report on the multiple uses of bNAbs, including as a component of ART, use as PrEP, and in cure-related studies to enable some people to safely interrupt ART.
These include teropavimab, zinlirvimab, N6LS, 10E8.4/ibalizumab, BNT-351, VRC07-523LS, PGT121 and others.
PrEP pipeline and new approaches to PEP
CROI will also include possible new drugs for PrEP including the NRTTIs islatravir (now only being developed as ART) and oral monthly MK-8527, lenacapavir (twice yearly and once-yearly), a new version of cabotegravir (given every four months), bNAbs and a long-acting (>1 year) dolutegravir implant (coformulated with levonorgestrel contraceptive).
An independent CDC study using an islatravir implant was controversial for reporting a lack of protection against the M184V mutation in a macaque study, although the results were difficult to interpret and are not likely to affect the development of MK-8527.
Many dozens of studies will look at practical issues related to access and uptake of all formulations of PrEP, including side effects, drug resistance, discontinuation rates and the reasons people often stop taking PrEP.
The science about effective PrEP also needs to be balanced about access. Much of the headline news will be about scientific advances that might be years away from broad access. In high-income settings, until generics are available, the prices of innovative PrEP are likely to severely limit access. In low- and middle-income settings, access will also be limited because of practical issues about access to generics – even if the prices are dramatically lower.
In a pre-conference workshop on long-acting drugs, Francois Venter, a prominent South Africa researcher, referred to ‘lenacapavir fetishism’, in reference to the tiny numbers of people who are able to access this, despite the plans to reach two million people globally over the next two years. CROI will include many reports on PrEP access.
Several studies will also present on PEP and better options for this important option for HIV prevention.
Cure-related research and the viral reservoir
CROI 2026 has a very strong focus on cure-related research including the outcomes of various interventions such as bNAbs (including the UK RIO study), PD-1 blockers, IL-15 and others to reduce the viral reservoir, and on how to explain other mechanisms involved in both elite controllers and people with post-treatment viral control. This will include studies in children as well as adults.
Closely linked to cure-related research, CROI will include many studies looking at the dynamics of the viral reservoir, including in different populations and related to timing of ART in different settings and the impact of bacterial STIs.
This will also include clinical complications of chronic inflammation including sub-clinical cardiovascular risks and residual viral activity on ART.
Political changes and the impact of US funding cuts
The impact of US funding cuts and withdrawal from international health programmes is included throughout the programme this year, including in an opening talk by prominent US activist Peter Staley, now available on YouTube.
Many talks will look at the impact of financial cuts and instability, especially for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and approaches to overcome them.
New studies on drug resistance
Research into drug resistance is always included at CROI but this year will include trying to explain drug resistance in INSTIs, especially given the global use of DTG-based ART (where resistance might be increasing) and especially in the context of detectable viral load.
Several studies will look at the use of current first-line ART in people with historical resistance to NRTIs.
Monitoring tests
Although rarely headline news, several presentations will look at possible advances in monitoring.
These include various point-of-care (PoC) studies for viral load, urine monitoring (including for paediatric TB), PoC HIV and STI testing (including via vending machines), rapid mpox (with syphilis and herpes) and for sensitivity to bNAbs.
GLP-1 agonists for weight loss (and other indications)
Several studies at 2024 and 2025 included tentative data on the use of GLP-1 agonists and this year will cover their use for weight loss of other potential indications.
This is likely to be an important new theme that will be important for everyone.
Other research about unplanned weight increases on ART is also expected as this is one of the most pressing community concerns.
Other complications of HIV and/or ART
Studies covering a wide range of other complications will be presented, including on the management of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, neurological complications, ageing, tuberculosis, liver disease, mpox, other STIs and cancers.
Research in specific populations
CROI recognises both sex and gender in the programme, which includes the importance of reporting whether people are cisgender or transgender.
Expect to see new research involving transgender healthcare and a wide range of studies about children and adolescent care.
CROI actively promotes the use of people-first language and all researchers were also encouraged to include a plain language summary.
This post will be updated after the embargo lifts in a few days to include details of specific studies.