Lenacapavir was launched in Zimbabwe in February 2026 as Kenya became the fourth African country to start administering the twice-yearly HIV prevention injection. The rollout follows launches in Eswatini and Zambia in December 2025, five months after US FDA approval.
Merck announced Phase 3 trial results for its investigational once-daily, two-drug HIV regimen doravirine/islatravir at CROI 2026, demonstrating non-inferiority to standard treatment in treatment-naïve adults with viral suppression rates of 91.8% at Week 48.
A once-daily single-tablet combination of bictegravir and lenacapavir demonstrated non-inferiority to existing HIV treatments in Phase 3 trials, offering simplified treatment for people living with HIV who are virologically suppressed.