CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -AZT: The First Drug to Treat HIV Infection Used alone, AZT decreased deaths and opportunistic infections, albeit with serious adverse effects. In March 1987, AZT became the first drug to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating AIDS.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1987 the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of azidothymidine (AZT), the first antiretroviral drug for treatment of HIV/AIDS. AZT monotherapy slowed viral replication and disease progression but added only months to life and had severe side effects. HIV rapidly developed resistance to this single drug.

Detailed explanation-3: -AZT was subsequently approved unanimously for infants and children in 1990.

Detailed explanation-4: -AZT, or azidothymidine, was originally developed in the 1960s by a U.S. researcher as way to thwart cancer; the compound was supposed to insert itself into the DNA of a cancer cell and mess with its ability to replicate and produce more tumor cells. But it didn’t work when it was tested in mice and was put aside.