The FDA has approved 54 treatment options for HIV/AIDS since the crisis began, vastly improving life expectancy. The timeline for approving these treatments paralleled efforts to address COVID-19: gathering information, developing accurate tests, creating treatments, and refining options. Key developments included the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power advocating for experimental therapies, the first treatment AZT, the FDA division dedicated to HIV/AIDS, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and private organizations continually improving affordability and effectiveness of treatments. When pandemics strike, finding solutions requires collaboration across fields to prioritize treatment development and access.

1. The FDA’s Role in the HIV/AIDS Crisis Timeline
By: Catherine Milford
December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month, and given the state of our current global pandemic,
now is a great time to look back on the victories and mistakes made in dealing with the HIV/AIDS
crisis. The HIV/AIDS crisis was at the forefront of everyone’s minds when the issue began in the
early 1980’s. It was new, no one knew exactly what caused it, how it was spread, how to prevent
it, or how to treat it. The history of the HIV/AIDS crisis is a long, complicated, and at times ugly
story that is beyond the scope of this blog. I will instead be focusing on the intersection of the
FDA, private industries, and patients in dealing with this crisis. However, I implore you to do
some of your own research on this topic to help raise awareness; there are excellent resources on
the FDA’s website, the CDC’s website, and the WHO’s website.
To date, the FDA has approved 54 different treatment options for HIV/AIDS; these different
treatments mean that a 20-year-old patient diagnosed with AIDS canhave a life expectancy of 78
years old.1 This is huge when you consider that the life expectancy for the same patient 25 years
ago was only 39 years old.2 The general timeline for the release of these treatment options will be
familiar to anyone who has been following the COVID-19 pandemic: gather and disperse accurate
information,createaccuratetesting,createtreatmentoptions,andrefine those treatmentoptions.
Each step in this timeline was encouraged or sped up by individual patients, the work of private
industries, or individuals working at the FDA. A few examples worth highlighting include:
- The developmentof theAIDSCoalitionto Unleash Power(ACTUP),anorganizationmade
up of citizens who strongly advocated for increased speed in releasing experimental new
therapies for the treatment of AIDS.
- The release of AZT as the first treatment for AIDS by private pharmaceutical institutions.
- The founding of the Division of Antiviral Products (DAVP), an FDA division that was
completely dedicated to reviewing applications for drugs to treat HIV/AIDS.
- The development of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which
helped speed up the process for approving HIV/AIDS treatments at a federal level.
- The overall refinement of HIV/AIDS treatments by private organizations – all of which
work toward making treatments more convenient, more effective, and more affordable.1
When the world is hit by a pandemic, finding a solution requires teamwork from people across
many different fields. It does not matter what the pandemic is or which demographic it tends to
target, the overall strategy is the same, and the importance of finding a treatment is the same. If
your company is working toward solutions for the ongoing pandemics, whether that solution is
geared toward accurate testing, prevention through vaccines, or treatments for patients already
1 FDA. (2019, March 14). The History of FDA’s Role in Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS. Virtual Exhibits of FDA
History. Retrieved November 30, 2020, from https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/virtual-exhibits-fda-history/history-
fdas-role-preventing-spread-hivaids
2 Scaccia,Annamarya.(2020,April 24).Facts About HIV: Life Expectancy and Long-Term Outlook. Healthline.
Retrieved November 30, 2020,from https://www.healthline.com/health/hiv-aids/life-expectancy

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