Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, scientists have been searching for a cure. In 1996, a groundbreaking study showed that a combination of three drugs – protease inhibitors, nucleoside analogues, and reverse transcriptase inhibitors – could dramatically improve the prognosis for people with HIV/AIDS. This so-called “AIDS cocktail” has since become the standard of care for HIV/AIDS patients around the world.

The AIDS cocktail consists of three classes of drugs:

1. Protease inhibitors: These drugs block the protease …