2001

amfAR creates TREAT Asia, a network of clinics, hospitals, and research institutions working with civil society to ensure the safe and effective delivery of HIV/AIDS treatments throughout Asia and the Pacific.

Indian drug-maker Cipla announces it will sell triple-drug therapy for $350 per patient per year to Médecins Sans Frontières and directly to poor nations, prompting several major pharmaceuticals to lower prices. (In the U.S., the annual cost of combination therapy averages between $10,000 and $15,000.)

Recognizing the debilitating side effects associated with combination therapy and the speed with which HIV can develop resistance, the CDC issues new guidelines recommending that antiretroviral treatment be postponed until an individual’s immune system declines markedly.

A new study shows that 14% of individuals newly infected with HIV in the U.S. already exhibit resistance to at least one antiviral drug.

Pharmaceutical companies withdraw their lawsuit to block implementation of a South African law that permits the import and manufacture of generic antiretrovirals.

amfAR Founding National Chairman Elizabeth Taylor is awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal for her work against AIDS.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan calls for the creation of a $7 to $10 billion global fund to combat AIDS in the developing world.

A special session of the United Nations General Assembly is held June 25-27 in an effort to intensify international action to fight the epidemic and mobilize adequate resources.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell reaffirms the position that HIV/AIDS constitutes a national security threat.

AIDS organizations and advocates commemorate the 20th anniversary of a brutal, unrelenting epidemic.

If current trends remain unchanged, there will be more than 62 million people living with HIV/AIDS by 2005, and more than 40 million children will have been orphaned by AIDS in Africa alone by 2010.

Nkosi Johnson dies of AIDS.

U.S. YEAR-END STATISTICS

816,149 cases of AIDS reported to date
462,653 deaths