The Role of Chemistry in History

Introduction to AZT |The Chemistry of AZT| Side Effects| Pregnancy| An Anything But American Virus| Opposing Views| How AZT Changed History|

• AZT is given to newborn babies who test positive for HIV

• Vaccinations and hemophilia can cause false positives in an HIV test. Drugs are administered anyway and babies die only months later

• “…HIV-positive children who took AZT were three times more likely to develop AIDS or die by 18 months than those who did not.” (Roleff 201)

• Some viral patients rather just deal with the effects of the virus rather than the sickening and disabling side effects of AZT

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Introduction to AZT |The Chemistry of AZT| Side Effects| Pregnancy| An Anything But American Virus| Opposing Views| How AZT Changed History|

• HIV/AIDS is stereotypically synonymous with African Americans, gay males, and residents of poor countries (reason why the cure is taking so long, if it affected white females as much as black females, then more medicine that works would be readily available)

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Introduction to AZT |The Chemistry of AZT| Side Effects| Pregnancy| An Anything But American Virus| Opposing Views| How AZT Changed History|

• Pancytopenia (a shortage of red and white blood cells)

• Myopathy (disease causing your muscles to become weak or wasted)

• Nausea, headaches, vomiting

• Changes in skin and nail color

• Rare but have been reported: pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels), and seizures

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Introduction to AZT|The Chemistry of AZT| Side Effects| Pregnancy| An Anything But American Virus| Opposing Views| How AZT Changed History|

• AZT C₁₀H₁₃N₅O₄ is a nucleoside analog of thymidine C₁₀H₁₄N₂O₅

• Without the OH group, the next DNA base has nothing to attach to and makes small bits of DNA rather than a single continuous molecule

• AZT prohibits reverse transcriptase, which is what allows the virus to replicate by making DNA from RNA

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Introduction to AZT |The Chemistry of AZT| Side Effects| Pregnancy| An Anything But American Virus| Opposing Views| How AZT Changed History|

• AZT (Azidothymidine) is marketed under the name Retrovir

• First drug approved for the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection in 1987

• Does not cure AIDS but slows the progression of the disease and the replication of the virus

• It is taken along with other antiviral drugs that make up a “cocktail”

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Introduction to AZT | The Chemistry of AZT| Side Effects| Pregnancy| An Anything But American Virus| Opposing Views| How AZT Changed History|

• In the U.S., about 25 percent of pregnant HIV-infected women not receiving AZT therapy passed on the infection to their babies. AZT reduced that 25 percent to 8 percent

• The treatment cost per pregnant woman is still $1,000

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Introduction to AZT | The Chemistry of AZT| Side Effects| Pregnancy| An Anything But American Virus| Opposing Views| How AZT Changed History|

• Nearly doubled the life expectancy for persons with AIDS

• Can reduce maternal transmission of AIDS during pregnancy by 2/3

• Too toxic for cancer in 1964 but worked 20 years later with antiviral therapy

• March 1987 “The world of clinical research was turned upside down” (National
  Academy of Sciences) when the FDA approved AZT after phase one instead of the usual phase 3

• $10,000 annually-one of the most expensive drugs in history

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