Drug Approved 25 Years Ago Changed Fight Against AIDS

 

Larry Kramer used to wear a lot of turquoise¹ jewelry² on both hands.

When Kramer moved to New York City in the 1970s, a fortune teller³ told him he must always wear something turquoise to look after his health. He trusted that claim. In the years that followed, Kramer survived the liver disease hepatitis B and had a liver transplant operation. He had also battled HIV for more than 30 years. HIV is the name of the virus that causes the disease AIDS.

Kramer, a playwright⁴ and AIDS activist⁵ for many years, once said "God knows how" he survived all those health problems. He spoke⁶ with VOA before dying of pneumonia⁷ last month. He was 84 years old.

A series of antiviral drugs kept Kramer and millions of others with HIV alive for many years. The first of those drugs was studied and received U.S. government approval in the 1990s.

But before that success, the search for an effective treatment took more than 10 years and caused fierce clashes between Americans and the government.

AIDS activist

Kramer launched AIDS activism in the United States. He demanded money for research and treatments for a mysterious disease that researchers identified in 1981. They would later link AIDS to the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which most often is passed sexually. Infected people accused the government of not taking steps to fight a disease that was mostly killing⁸ gay men.

"Ronald Reagan, who was president, never even said the word AIDS" until his second term in office, Kramer said.

By the end of 1986, more than 16,000 Americans with AIDS had died. In 1987, Kramer started ACT UP, the first group to put together loud, energetic protests over an epidemic⁹ which had no effective treatments.

Silence = Death

A protest on October 11, 1988 would become ACT UP's most memorable¹⁰ clash with the U.S. government. The group forced the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, to close its headquarters, near Washington, D.C. That day, ACT UP blocked roads to the FDA offices. Protesters lay on the ground in front of the building with homemade tombstones. Activists¹¹ hung a sign above the entrance to the building with ACT UP's saying: Silence = Death.

Richard Klein was the FDA's representative to the AIDS community at the time. He called ACT UP's protest "a great wake-up call for the FDA."

Speaking with VOA, Klein recalled the uneasy days between the AIDS activists and federal officials. And he noted¹² that changes did come. Activists were added to FDA advisory¹³ committees as patient representatives. The agency expanded patient access to experimental drug studies. Many of those studies were sped up and extended. Trial patients whose health was failing were moved to groups getting the drug or drugs being tested.

"It took people who were dying to really make the point of 'We don't want to die in these clinical trials,'" Klein said.

Yet AIDS patients continued to die — 300,000 in the United States by 1995.

The most widely used drug at the time, AZT, was developed in the 1960s and approved as an AIDS treatment in 1987. AZT did slow the weakening of patients' natural defenses for fighting disease. However, the HIV virus became resistant¹⁴ to the medication and the deadly path of AIDS continued.

New class of drugs

In June of 1995, the FDA approved a study of saquinavir, the first of a new group of drugs called protease inhibitors. They were designed to prevent the HIV virus from reproducing.

These drugs were thought to be a way to end virus resistance issues, Klein explained.

Saquinavir proved ineffective by itself. But when combined with AZT and other anti-viral medication, it led to an increase in white blood cell counts in AIDS patients. That was a clear sign that the body's disease-fighting systems had begun to recover. Most importantly, the HIV virus did not develop resistance to the combined drugs.

Fewer than four months after getting the results, the FDA gave the fastest drug approval ever to saquinavir as part of a combination treatment for HIV/AIDS.

"It completely transformed the lives of HIV infected individuals," Anthony Fauci told VOA.

Fauci is director of the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, and currently leading NIH's battle against COVID-19. He supervised much of the U.S. government's efforts against AIDS from 1984 forward. Fauci noted that the arrival of protease inhibitors marked "the first time we had highly effective drugs against HIV."

Ending a dispute

In addition to physical healing, the arrival of life-saving drugs would lead to an end to the public clashes between the FDA and AIDS activists.

For example, during the worst of the AIDS epidemic, Larry Kramer called Fauci a "murderer" and other things. Over time, the two men grew to respect and like each other.

Kramer called Fauci a "friend" in his interview with VOA. Writing for TIME magazine after Kramer's death, Fauci praised Kramer's activism. He added, "I will miss a lot about Larry, but I think his warmth most of all."

Protease inhibitor drugs saved countless¹⁵ lives after 1995. In recent years, the drugs have proven effective in stopping HIV infections when taken as a preventative. Even with this progress, there is no cure and no effective vaccine¹⁶ for HIV/AIDS.

I'm Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

turquoise - n. a bluish-green stone used in jewelry

fortune teller - n. a person who claims to use special powers to tell what will happen to someone in the future

playwright - n. A person who writes plays

pneumonia - n. a serious disease that affects the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe

antiviral - n. A drug or treatment effective against viruses

gay - adj. sexually attracted to someone who is the same sex

epidemic - n. an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people

tombstone - n. a stone that marks the place where a dead person is buried

access - n. a way of being able to use or get something

transform - v. to change something completely and usually in a good way

1 turquoise   

n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的

参考例句：

• She wore a string of turquoise round her neck.她脖子上戴着一串绿宝石。
• The women have elaborate necklaces of turquoise.那些女人戴着由绿松石制成的精美项链。

2 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

3 teller   

n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员

参考例句：

• The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
• The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。

4 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

10 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

13 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

14 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

15 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

16 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。