Overview

• The NIH’s Office of AIDS Research confirmed it will phase out its HIV treatment guidelines by June 2026 and is evaluating moving their management to another HHS agency.
• Internal NIH emails cite budget cuts and shifting priorities as reasons for seeking a new home for the federal HIV care recommendations.
• The guidelines inform insurance and Medicare coverage for antiretroviral therapies used by more than one million people living with HIV in the United States.
• Clinicians warn that placing the guidelines under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned established HIV science, could politicize treatment standards.
• A special session with guideline panel leaders and the OAR Advisory Council has been scheduled to develop a transition plan and maintain real-time updates.