AZT approved

Approval of AZT is fast-tracked by the FDA after a small-scale trial finds that rates of opportunistic infections and deaths are lower for those on the drug. The drug is highly toxic, difficult to produce and leaves many with concerns about the long-term effects on people living with HIV. But at this point it is the only hope in the armoury of defeating HIV, and it becomes the most expensive drug on the market.

Text and photo
March 1987
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v323/n6086/pdf/323283a0.pdf
Bottle of Zidovudine tablets
Timeline date: 
1987-03-19
Mike Blyth/ Creative Commons