Post misrepresents dangers of first FDA-approved HIV treatment | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
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The claim: HIV drug AZT, backed by Fauci, killed hundreds of thousands of people

A June 5 Instagram video features a man narrating over several clips of people protesting an HIV drug called AZT. The video is from the third installment of a conspiracy theory-ridden film series called, "Plandemic," created by Mikki Willis.

"My brother was killed by a drug called AZT," the man says. "Hundreds of thousands of innocent people died as a result of that prescribed poison. The pusher of AZT was none other than Dr. Anthony Fauci."

The video goes on to show clips of Dr. Anthony Fauci talking about the safety of AZT and, later, COVID-19 vaccines.

The post received more than 3,000 likes in nine days. Similar versions of the claim have been shared on Instagram.

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Our rating: False

Experts, including Fauci, say AZT is safe and saved lives. There is no evidence it killed hundreds of thousands of people.

AZT hasn't caused hundreds of thousands of deaths

AZT, also known as zidovudine or azidothymidine, was the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat AIDS in 1987.

But Catey Laube, section chief of the HIV/STI/AIT division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told USA TODAY the post's claim that the drug killed hundreds of thousands of people is false.

"The drug (AZT) is still used for HIV treatment and prevention globally and to a lesser extent in the U.S. for both mother-to-child prevention and in combination with other medicines as post-exposure prophylaxis," Laube said in an email.

Chanapa Tantibanchachai, a spokesperson for the FDA, also said the claim is false.

She referred USA TODAY to the drug label for Retrovir, a brand name for AZT. It says the drug has been shown to "prolong survival and decrease the incidence of opportunistic infections in patients with advanced HIV-1 disease and to delay disease progression in asymptomatic HIV-1-infected patients."

Dr. Monica Gandhi, director of the University of California San Francisco Center for AIDS Research and medical director of the HIV Clinic at San Fransisco General Hospital, told USA TODAY that AZT saved lives because it was the only HIV treatment available at the time.

"When newer drugs with a greater safety profile were developed, AZT was eventually phased out," Gandhi said in an email. "However, there is no doubt that AZT was incredibly important, life-saving and did not cause hundreds of thousands of deaths, so the online claim is false."

Fact check: Research proves HIV is the cause of AIDS, contrary to viral claim

An NIAID study on the effectiveness of AZT found that even though "some individuals maintain that treatment with zidovudine – AZT – has compounded the AIDS epidemic, published reports of both placebo-controlled clinical trials and observational studies provide data to the contrary."

The report says uncontrolled studies found increased survival or reduced frequency of opportunistic infections, or both, in patients treated with AZT and "several cohort studies show that life expectancy of individuals with AIDS has increased since the use of AZT became common in 1986-87."

People taking AZT on its own later began showing rising HIV levels as the virus mutated to resist the drug, but in 1996 researchers found that it became more effective when combined with other drugs in what's called triple-drug therapy.

The global roll-out of HIV treatment prevented an estimated 16.5 million AIDS-related deaths between 2001 and 2020, according to the United Nations.

Fauci wasn't responsible for AZT approval

While Fauci, the former director of the NIAID, did voice his support for AZT in the 1980s and advised several presidents on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, he wasn't responsible for the drug's approval.

Fact check: False claim CDC reported spike in HIV-related diseases after COVID-19 vaccines

The NIAID formed an AIDS Program in 1986 to coordinate research efforts, but AZT was approved by the FDA.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The claim has also been debunked by PolitiFact, AFP and the Associated Press.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, AZT hasn't caused hundreds of thousands of deaths | Fact check