Eleven clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2026

#1

Eleven clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2026

Nature Medicine asks leading researchers to name their top clinical trial for 2026, from long-awaited vaccines for infectious diseases to new treatments for advanced cancers and long COVID.

Full list:

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Screenshot 2025-12-26 at 5.24.20 PM2164Ă—1366 198 KB

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#2

Great list, thanks for sharing :blush:. Very interested in long acting antivirals (second row, as may have off label benefits e.g. Maraviroc). Also interested in the outcome of IL-6 inhibition, as interested in anti inflammatory generally (e.g chronic inflammation in MS) and inflamaging too…

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#3

Thanks for sharing. I am mostly interested in the stem cell ones.

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#4

Yes, thanks for posting. I was not aware of Pelacarsen, the antisense RNA to block Lp(a). That could be a big hit.

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#5

Thanks for sharing. It’s definitely great to see in one way, but they’re also kinda… boring, or unambitious somehow? Many seem to be fancy, expensive ways to incrementally improve what we already have.

TB vaccine for adult (we all had BCG as kids, I’m sure) is a great one. More than 1 million deaths per year due to adult TB.

The HIV one is not that exciting IMO. We already have super solid treatments, including ART which gives people normal life expectancies by taking 1 cheap pill per day. This is going to be longer lasting, less frequently treatment, but also likely significantly more expensive. (Basically it’s like a Repatha when you already have statins.)

Anti-IL-6 could be cool for people who already controlled lipoproteins but have stubborn high inflammation (CRP etc). Just adding more risk reduction on top of the basics (lipoproteins, blood pressure, anti-platelet etc). Then again, I’d argue that we have less fancy drugs like colchicine which seem to do the job pretty well in terms of outcome, and I wonder how much better this will be. And of course we can assume anti anti-IL-6 will be significantly more expensive!

Pelacarsen is the most relevant on the list for us IMO. Currently there are no treatments for high Lp(a), and this one seems to work well.

The cancer ones I’m not very knowledgable but oral KRAS for pancreatic cancer would be a good demonstration. But there’s no “game changing” sort of cures/immunotherapies here as far as I can see.

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#6

List seems arbitrary, so I made my own :

  • A Study of Tirzepatide (LY3298176) Plus Mibavademab Compared With Tirzepatide Alone in Adult Participants With Obesity ClinicalTrials.gov. Note that Muba is a leptin agonist

  • A Study to Investigate Weight Management With LY3841136 and Tirzepatide (LY3298176), Alone or in Combination, in Adult Participants With Obesity or Overweight With Type 2 Diabetes. ClinicalTrials.gov. Note that LY3841136 is an amylin agonist (eloralintide) .

  • A Study to Investigate Weight Management With Bimagrumab (LY3985863) and Tirzepatide (LY3298176), Alone or in Combination, in Adults With Obesity or Overweight. ClinicalTrials.gov. Note that Bimagrumab is a myostatin inhibitor.

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#7

1. Reversing Cellular Age (Gene Therapy, FDA-approved trial)

  • Your DNA does not really wear out with age. The instructions on how to read it get messy.
  • Scientists found a way to clean up those instructions and make old cells behave young again.
  • This just got FDA approval for human testing, starting with eyes because they are safer to monitor.
  • If it works, it could eventually be used on many organs, not just vision.
  • This is not vitamins or supplements. It is flipping the cell’s internal reset switch.

2. Cancer Treatments That Actually Look Different

  • Some new cancer vaccines train your own immune system to kill tumors fast, sometimes in days.
  • No chemo, no radiation in some early trials.
  • One approach removes cancer’s “camouflage” so the immune system can finally see it.
  • Another may detect many cancers early with a simple urine test.
  • Gut bacteria may decide whether cancer treatment works at all, which is wild but very real.

Why this matters for longevity: beating cancer cleanly matters more than living longer on paper.

3. Regrowing Worn-Out Body Parts

  • Researchers are learning how to regrow cartilage instead of replacing joints with metal.
  • A drug in Japan may let adults regrow lost teeth. Pull the bad one, grow a new one.
  • Another company claims it can make your liver biologically younger.
  • This is not cosmetic. It is about restoring function instead of managing decline.

This appeals to naturalists because regeneration already exists in nature. We are just learning how to trigger it.

4. One-Shot Weight Loss Therapy

  • Current weight loss drugs work, but only while you keep taking them forever.
  • A new approach uses a single gene therapy injection that makes your body regulate appetite naturally.
  • The hormone only activates when you eat, not all the time.
  • Fewer side effects, no weekly injections, no rebound weight gain.
  • Human dosing has already started.

This is more “fix the system” than “force the body.”

5. Multiple Sclerosis Might Be a Gut Problem

  • Scientists found specific gut bacteria that appear to trigger MS.
  • Identical twin studies strongly support this link.
  • Transferring gut bacteria alone caused MS-like disease in animals.
  • This opens doors to treatments using probiotics, targeted antibiotics, or microbiome transplants.
  • MS may become preventable instead of lifelong.

This one fits well with a naturalist worldview. Biology, environment, and microbes, not mystery.

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