CROI 2025 – Oral Presentations
On March 10, a roundtable discussion was held on treatment and prevention for transgender women living with HIV.
Congratulations to Juliette HEMERY, statistician in the CLEPIVIR team, for her outstanding work on antiretroviral treatment initiation timelines among transgender women living with HIV in France.
Her longitudinal study explores how the timeframes between key steps in the HIV care continuum — from diagnosis to viral suppression, including medical care and treatment initiation — have evolved between 1997 and 2022. The findings highlight an overall reduction in these delays over time. However, despite the implementation of the treat all strategy, geographic disparities remain in timely access to treatment.
A roundtable focused on the persistence and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 was held on March 11, featuring five oral presentations.
Congratulations to Karen ZAFILAZA, PhD candidate in the THERAVIR team, for her insightful talk on the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in immunocompromised patients compared to immunocompetent individuals over time.
This work is part of the ANRS EMERGEN SIID project, which aims to deepen our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised populations. The study highlights a higher genetic diversity of the virus in these patients, particularly in key regions involved in viral replication. This finding sheds new light on the virus’s evolutionary mechanisms in vulnerable hosts.
Better understanding these genetic dynamics could lead to improved characterization of infections in immunocompromised individuals and, ultimately, inform the adaptation of vaccine and antibody-based therapeutic strategies.
Within the team, this research is ongoing, with further analysis underway to identify the factors driving this diversity and to refine our understanding of virus–host interactions.
CROI 2025 - Posters
Congratulations to Dr. Basma ABDI, virologist in the THERAVIR team, for her work on the effectiveness of Doravirine in patients with a history of virological failure and NNRTI resistance mutations.
Doravirine (DOR) is an antiretroviral drug commonly recommended for people living with HIV who have no prior resistance to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). However, in real-world settings, some patients with a history of resistance may still benefit from this treatment.
This study, conducted among 102 people living with HIV — mostly men with a median age of 59 — aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a DOR-based regimen in individuals with past virological failure and documented NNRTI resistance mutations. On average, participants had been diagnosed 26 years ago and had been on treatment for 22 years.
Among them, 25% had old NNRTI mutations (such as K103N, Y181C, or G190A/E), which had been detected on average 12 years earlier. Over two years of follow-up, no virological failures or rebounds were observed.
These encouraging results suggest that Doravirine could be a viable treatment option even in patients with past resistance mutations, as long as durable viral suppression has been maintained.
Congratulations to Dr. Cathia Soulie, research engineer in the THERAVIR team, for her work on resistance to integrase inhibitors, which has remained stable despite their growing use in HIV treatment.
At Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, a 16-year study tracked the evolution of resistance to a key class of antiretroviral drugs: integrase inhibitors. These treatments work by preventing the virus from integrating its genetic material into human cells — a critical step in the infection process.
Since 2008, the use of integrase inhibitors has increased significantly, from just 3% to over 70% of patients in 2024. Early drugs in this class, such as raltegravir, were often used in combination with less potent regimens, which frequently led to the development of resistance. However, with the introduction of more powerful molecules like dolutegravir, bictegravir, and cabotegravir, resistance has become much less common — affecting only 2.7% of patients in 2024.
This study shows that with proper medical monitoring — including regular viral load and resistance testing — long-term treatment effectiveness can be maintained. Thanks to recent advances in antiretroviral therapy, HIV can now be better controlled while reducing the risk of treatment failure.