Modern HIV treatment is powerful, can consist of just one pill once-daily, and often causes only mild side-effects.

BBC: HIV drugs 'could stop virus spread'

One is an HIV drug that combines Gilead's Truvada (which itself is a combo of two Gilead drugs to treat HIV) and Sustiva from Bristol-Myers Squibb into a one-pill, once-a-day regimen.

FORBES

One is an HIV drug that combines Gilead's Truvada (which itself is a combo of two Gilead drugs to treat HIV) and Sustiva from Bristol-Myers Squibb (nyse: BMY - news - people ) into a one-pill, once-a-day regimen.

FORBES: Gilead's Half-Empty Pipeline

Once a drug is in production, churning out one more little pill costs next to nothing.

FORBES: Gouging The Drug Companies

Since forgetfulness is the chief reason for failure of the women's pill (one woman in five who uses it forgets at least once a month to take it), and since there is no reason to believe that men would be any more reliable, an annual injection or implant should be much more effective.

ECONOMIST: Contraception

But Japan has once again decided to remain one of the few countries in the world to outlaw the use of the contraceptive pill.

ECONOMIST: The pill in Japan