Immune-based & gene therapies The developmental pathway for these types of candidate HIV therapies is particularly complex. Because of the effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs in treating HIV, IBTs and gene therapies needs to be able to supplement their effects, or replace them .the latter goal obviously overlaps with the idea of a “functional cure” described in the previous section. There are potential opportunities for supplementing ART because a proportion of HIV- positive experience persistent immune dysfunction despite suppression of viral replication to undetectable levels.