Other News In 1987
AZT (zidovudine) becomes the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of AIDS.2
The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care is founded to address the needs of nurses working with PLWHA.3
And the Band Played On, a history of the AIDS epidemic by reporter Randy Shilts, is published.4
1987
AZT Program Launches With Awards of $30 Million
On March 20, 1987, the HIV/AIDS community received news that a powerful breakthrough in HIV treatment had been achieved. On that day, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved zidovudine (AZT), the most effective drug to date for combating HIV/AIDS and the first anti-HIV drug approved for use in the United States.
Soon thereafter, HRSA launched its AZT Drug Reimbursement Program. This program brought life-prolonging treatment to people who lacked the financial or insurance resources to acquire AZT on their own.
AZT Drug Reimbursement Program grants were awarded via letters to the governors in all 50 States, “It had the least amount of paperwork associated with it of any grant I’ve ever seen in my life,” says Director of the HAB Division of Training and Technical Assistance, Steven Young. “All we had to do was sign a letter of commitment and that was it!" Young was at the New Jersey State Department of Health, Division of AIDS Prevention and Control when the AZT program was launched.
Award levels were based on the percentage of U.S. AIDS patients living in the State. Five hard-hit States—New York, California, Texas, Florida, and New Jersey—received 71 percent of the funds, or about $21.1 million.
HRSA’s AZT Drug Reimbursement Program laid the foundation for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) authorized under the CARE Act of 1990. ADAP was designed to pay for HIV treatments for low-income, underserved people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), and it reflected HRSA’s effort to help the medical community offset the cost of treating PLWHA. Today, some 20 years later, ADAP is the biggest budget initiative in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.
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Toward Passage - 1986
HRSA Debuts First
AIDS Program - 1987
AZT Reimbursement
Program Launches - 1988
Pediatric AIDS
Grants Begins - 1989
HRSA Funds Move
Outside Epicenters - 1990
CARE Act Is Adopted,
Named for Indiana Teen -
The Early Years - 1991
HRSA Awards First
CARE Act Grants - 1992
Training Creates Access
to Expert Care - 1993
Largest Epicenters
Now Number 25 - 1994
AZT Is Found to Protect
Newborns From HIV - 1995
The Age of Combination
Therapy Arrives -
Adapting to Change - 1996
CARE Act
Reauthorized - 1997
Programs Unite
Under One Umbrella - 1998
Administration Addresses
Epidemic in Minorities - 1999
Minority AIDS Initiative
is Launched - 2000
Reauthorization Focuses
on People Not in Care -
A New Millennium - 2001
HRSA Publishes Treatment
Guide for Women - 2002
CARE Act Expertise
Goes Global - 2003
Global HIV/AIDS
Program Begins - 2004
HRSA Addresses
Severity of Need - 2005
New Treatment
for Addiction -
New Approaches - 2006
The CARE Act
Makeover - 2007
New Policies—
Waves of Change - 2008
Continuing Work
on Re-entry Programs - 2009
Improving
Performance Data - 2010
20 Years and
a Legacy of Care -
The Road Ahead - 2011
30 Years of AIDS:
Honoring the Past,
Looking Toward the Future - 2012
Care is Prevention