The key word to remember is “potential” side effects. Complications from HIV medications are not guaranteed to happen, and if they do, they are not the same for everyone. Before you say “no” to taking a medication because someone you know had a bad reaction or you remember an old report about toxic HIV drugs, do more research: talk to your HIV Specialist, as well as other people living with HIV. A medication that didn’t work for one person may be your saving grace.

In fact, many people living with HIV back then used to comment that taking HIV meds felt like they were substituting one disease for another: While ART slowed down the virus and helped people them live longer, they now had to deal with all the toxicity from those early medications.

In many cases, an astute health care team can help identify whether you’re potentially at risk for one of these more serious side effects, and ensure you take a different HIV treatment regimen that’s safer for you.

With monocolonal antibodies, however, these tools are manufactured in a lab. Then, instead of waiting for the human body to produce more antibodies to fight HIV off naturally, we can give someone these antibodies in an injection or infusion that will enter the blood and block HIV from entering T cells.

If all of that sounds kind of like an HIV prevention vaccine or a cure, then you’re getting a sense of why this form of treatment is so exciting! Our main goal is still to eventually develop a cure for HIV, and in fact the science behind these monoclonal antibodies may hold the key to that.

Until that cure comes, make sure you are taking your HIV medications consistently and following up with your medical team regularly. This way your mind, body, and spirit will be in the best possible state to welcome that cure when it is developed and available.