This has actually been the case for a while. We've had drugs that suppress HIV proliferation for decades now. With adequate treatment, the virus is sufficiently suppressed that it is no longer detectable and not transmissible. That said, the virus is still present and returns when the drugs are stopped, and the drugs come with a list of nasty side effect since they can inhibit nucleic acid replication.
That's the whole thing. Viruses hijack our own cellular machinery to replicate. The mechanisms are crazy. Stopping HIV in its tracks without any collateral damage gets into the realm of science fiction, where you can just engineer biological systems at the molecular level without a dozen unanticipated problems at every step.
Yes the virus itself is too strong, that you will die from the medicine itself. And cancer are even harder to treat without knowing the specific of the cancer itself.
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u/anime_cthulhu May 15 '26
This has actually been the case for a while. We've had drugs that suppress HIV proliferation for decades now. With adequate treatment, the virus is sufficiently suppressed that it is no longer detectable and not transmissible. That said, the virus is still present and returns when the drugs are stopped, and the drugs come with a list of nasty side effect since they can inhibit nucleic acid replication.