From the first identification of the virus that causes AIDS, it would take four years to develop and gain FDA approval for the first medication treatment, called AZT. AZT had been originally ...

In 1987, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug against AIDS. AZT (zidovudine) was a breakthrough antiviral medication against HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

Again, the selectivity of the inhibitory activity of AZT for a viral enzyme — HIV reverse ... 1980s — genome sequencing and structure-based drug design — then facilitated a new approach ...