Many people find it difficult to keep up with the rigorous dosing requirements. If these drugs are not taken exactly as prescribed, HIV can develop resistance to these drugs. When HIV becomes resistant to these drugs, the drugs may no longer work, and a person would have to change to different medications. There are now strains of HIV that are resistant to multiple antiviral drugs. Many of these drugs cause side effects that can be difficult for some people to deal with.
Some people stop taking their medications due to the severity of the side effects.
Although these drugs benefit many people, they do not help everyone. These drugs can slow down the disease, but they cannot stop it. Because of the problems associated with drug resistance, side effects, access to drugs, etc., we cannot call this a fully manageable disease at this time. Although present drug treatments do significantly slow down the progression of the disease in many people, they do not stop the disease, nor cure it. At this time, we cannot say what the long-term benefits of these drugs will be, since these drugs have only been around for a few years.