▲ Constant research has generated better drugs that encouraged patients to follow treatments.Photo The Day
Ángeles Cruz Martínez
La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, November 10, 2025, p. 19
More than 40 years after the appearance of HIV/AIDS, advances in scientific research allow people living with the virus a higher quality of life by having medications that are administered with a single tablet a day, unlike the 18 or more that they needed to ingest at the end of the 80s of the last century to stay alive, although with various complications.
The toxicity of the first antiretrovirals and the high number of daily pills led those affected to abandon the therapies. Hence, the mere reduction in doses boosted attachment. This, together with the scientific advance to better understand the human immunodeficiency virus and its reproduction mechanism, has achieved the formulation of highly effective drugs with fewer adverse effects, explained Sigfrido Rangel, medical director of the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) laboratory.
The most recent innovation is the development of a product that contains two molecules (dolutegravir/lamivudine), taken once a day and due to its high effectiveness, it was incorporated into the first line of treatment in the HIV/AIDS Clinical Management Guide of the National Center for the Prevention and Control of the disease (Censida).
It will gradually replace the antiretroviral that contains these two substances plus abacavir, since in clinical trials it was shown that the elimination of the latter maintained its effectiveness in reducing the viral load to undetectable levels.
Rangel highlighted that the control of HIV to the extent that its presence is not recorded in laboratory analyzes has been a new alternative for some years to stop the epidemic, since it has also been proven that under these conditions the infection is not transmitted to other individuals.
The statistics are still worrying
The topic is relevant because the epidemic remains active four decades later. In Mexico, nearly 19,000 cases and almost 5,000 deaths were recorded in 2024. Likewise, those affected still reach health services in advanced stages of the disease, the executive commented.
Hence the importance of new therapeutic options such as the one mentioned above and others, mainly long-acting injectable ones (cabotegravir/rilpivirine) that are applied every two months. This is already used in the United States.
For now, in Mexico the change to the dolutegravir/lamivudine combination is guaranteed because it was included in the consolidated purchase of the health sector for the period 2025-2026. The prescription will begin for people with a recent diagnosis of HIV, as well as for those who wish to change to the new regimen, with the certainty that they will maintain their quality of life without adverse effects.
Rafael Polanco, GSK Public Affairs Manager, also highlighted the importance of simplifying antiretroviral treatments for older adults who live with HIV/AIDS and face other conditions such as diabetes or hypertension, for which they must also take medication.
