It's not just the cost that's the problem, it's the huge risk of a bone marrow transplantation. I've worked in a transplantation ward, and the mortality rates a

It's not just the cost that's the problem, it's the huge risk of a bone marrow transplantation. I've worked in a transplantation ward, and the mortality rates are huge. In our case, about a third of patients was cured following the procedure, a third died within the first few months, and another third developed serious graft versus host disease, a complication where the donor cells attack the host body (5-year-survival-rate 53 % in our patients.) In patients with leukemia, you usually try at least one round of chemotherapy first, and reserve transplantation for desperate cases where the drugs don't work. Even if this turns out to be viable as a cure for AIDS, I expect it'll work the same way. It's just too deadly as a regular treatment.