Meds from ViiV and market leader Gilead Sciences ($GILD) may run out of room for improvement short of an actual cure, and current therapies will likely lose patent protection beginning in 2026. "There are diminishing returns in HIV," he told the news service. "The industry has done a fantastic job of taking the fear of the late '80s, and the death sentence, and taking that to one tablet a day." That's not to say there's no work to be done in the meantime.