If solved
HIV controlled without drugs
People with HIV stay healthy and non-infectious without daily pills, because the virus is cleared or held down by their own immune system.
Open in the interactive tree →A cure that works outside cancer wards would let people stop lifelong treatment. It could come from edited cells, antibodies or vaccines that teach the immune system to hold the virus down, or removal of the dormant reservoir. It would also address the main reason the epidemic persists where treatment is hard to sustain.
What it brings
- Treatment-free life with HIV
- An end to the epidemic rather than lifelong management
- Lower lifetime health costs for national programmes
- Cure strategies for other hidden virus infections