This company’s drug could effectively end the HIV epidemic—but patients remember how it slow walked a past treatment

Four decades after the human immunodeficiency virus was first identified, the end of the epidemic could be in sight. Thanks to treatments and preventive medications, new infections worldwide have fallen dramatically, from 3.3 million at their peak in 1995 to 1.3 million in 2023. Now, with the arrival of a groundbreaking drug from Gilead Sciences, there’s serious talk about bringing new cases down to zero.

Foster City, California–based Gilead is already the leader in HIV prevention. Its...