| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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later, the same drug was tested and discovered to block the replication of retroviruses in mouse cells during Wolfram Ostertag’s study at the Max Planck Institute in a search for an anti-Friend leukemia virus (FLV) drug (Gottlieb et al., 1981). The initial success of AZT against this specific retrovirus put it at the top of the list as a potential medicine to treat HIV in the 1980s. Dr. Samuel Broder, scientists at the NCI, and the GlaxoSmithKline company soon discovered that, although this drug did not kill HIV, it successfully suppressed its replication. Hence, AZT was to become the first drug approved and utilized in the treatment of HIV (Broder, 2010).
Noteworthy is the fact that, although experimentation with AZT began around 1983, the drug was not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) until 1987, after which it was named Retrovir (Broder, 2010). Using AZT to treat HIV did not come without challenges because it was a high risk for the development of drug-resistant HIV and the drug was highly toxic (Broder, 2010). Nevertheless, AZT’s success in suppressing HIV replication enticed hope that AIDS could be controlled with medicine. AZT’s approval by the FDA was an incentive for pharmaceutical companies around the world to develop newer and safer anti-HIV drugs. For instance, to focus on U.S. pharmaceutical companies, Hoffmann-La Roche manufactured Hivid, which was approved by the FDA in 1992 although soon discontinued. Bristol-Myers Squibb manufactured Zerit/stavudine, approved by the FDA in 1994. Hoffmann-La Roche manufactured Invirase, FDA approved in 1995. Abbott Laboratories’ Norvir/ritonavir was approved by the FDA in 1996 (Flexner, 2007). Boehringer Ingelheim discovered nevirapine, which was approved by the FDA in 1996 (de Béthune, 2009). GlaxoSmithKline manufactured Combivir, a combination drug of lamivudine and zidovudine that the FDA approved in 1997. The Janssens Foundation and Tibotec researchers discovered etravirine, FDA approved in 2008 (de Béthune, 2009). Other U.S.-based drug manufacturing companies include Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Inc., and Pfizer. As in the United States, there are various pharmaceutical companies around the world—including two Indian companies, namely Cipla and Ranbaxy—that manufacture generic