AZT, or azidothymidine, was originally developed in the 1960s by researcher Jerome Horwitz to prevent cancer cells from replicating. However, when tested in mice, it proved ineffective and was subsequently shelved. In the 1980s, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) included AZT in its screening program aimed at discovering treatments for HIV/AIDS. Early clinical trials sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome, known for its antiviral drugs, were led by Dr. Margaret Fischl, a young physician practicing in South Florida during that time. The study demonstrated that AZT significantly slowed the progression to AIDS, allowing patients' immune systems to regenerate, with only one of the 145 patients receiving AZT in the trial dying, compared to 16 deaths among the 137 patients receiving a placebo. The evidence led to an immediate recommendation to halt the trial and a rapid approval of the drug for broader distribution.

On March 19, 1987, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AZT as the first antiretroviral medication for the…