Health & biology · 1996

Combination HIV therapy

Three-drug cocktails with protease inhibitors turned HIV into a chronic, manageable condition.

Combination therapy presented in Vancouver in 1996 cut US AIDS deaths by about half within two years. Treated people with undetectable virus do not transmit HIV.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

AZT, first HIV drug 1987

What it led to 1

Twice-yearly HIV prevention 2025

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Life expectancy at birth Latest: 73.2 years (2023) Source: Our World in Data

Child mortality (under 5) Latest: 3.74 % (2024) Source: Our World in Data