A person with HIV who didn’t take antiretroviral drugs for three months remained free of the virus, thanks to a groundbreaking gene therapy. The success raises the prospect of keeping HIV in check permanently without antiretrovirals. The gene therapy works by locking the virus out of the CD4 white blood cells it normally infects. Of six people with HIV given the treatment, one cleared the virus completely and another two saw 10-fold drops in circulating virus.
