HIV antibody discoevred

[Insertnamehere]

This was my immediate thought as well.
I can't pretend to understand the full extend of HIV's mutations or what exactly they would mean for antibodies, but maybe this can work until genetherapy research gets to a point where it can function as a more permanent cure.

On the other hand, the (apparent) fact that it works on 98% of the strains suggests a very low mutation rate in the regions that would affect this antibody. So there's that.

Antibodies recognize surface proteins that are antigenic. Viruses like Influenza or HIV are undergoing mutations at a rate that modifies these surface antigens quite quickly. Soon enough, the antigen will be different enough to no longer be recognized by the antibody.