It has been postulated that only a vaccine can halt the pandemic because a vaccine would possibly cost less, thus being affordable for developing countries, and would not require daily treatments. However, even after almost 30 years of research, HIV-1 remains a difficult target for a vaccine.
Research to improve current treatments includes decreasing side effects of current drugs, further simplifying drug regimens to improve adherence, and determining the best sequence of regimens to manage drug resistance. A number of studies have shown that measures to prevent opportunistic infections can be beneficial when treating patients with HIV infection or AIDS. Vaccination against hepatitis A and B is advised for patients who are not infected with these viruses and are at risk of becoming infected. Patients with substantial immunosuppression are also advised to receive prophylactic therapy for Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP), and many patients may benefit from prophylactic therapy for toxoplasmosis and Cryptococcus meningitis as well.
Researchers have discovered an abzyme that can destroy the protein gp120 CD4 binding site. This protein is common to all HIV variants as it is the attachment point for B lymphocytes and subsequent compromising of the immune system.
Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have also discovered that a combination of peptides that stimulate integration together with the protease inhibitor Ro 31-8959 caused apoptotic cell death of HIV-infected cells with total extermination of the virus but did not harm healthy cells. It could take several years before a commercial treatment based on this discovery becomes available.
Reactivation of the retrocyclin pseudogene has been proposed as a possible prevention method, as was demonstrated in a proof-of-concept study in tissue culture cells.
In Berlin, Germany, a 42-year-old leukemia patient, Timothy Ray Brown (also referred to as the "Berlin Patient"), infected with HIV for more than a decade was given an experimental transplant of bone marrow with cells that contained an unusual natural variant of the CCR5 cell-surface receptor. This CCR5-Δ32 variant has been shown to make some cells from people who are born with it resistant to infection with some strains of HIV. Almost two years after the transplant, and even after the patient reportedly stopped taking antiretroviral medications, HIV has not been detected in the patient's blood. As of December 2010, three years after the transplant, Brown was still free of any detectable HIV in his blood and was described, in a paper in the journal Blood, as "cured".