When HIV was discovered just over a decade ago, in 1983, the world thought mostly of science's decorated past: a cure would be found, and the date for that miracle was only a question of time and money. Time has turned out to be plentiful, and federal spending on AIDS research has grown from $23 million in 1983 to $1.3 billion in 1993, but no cure has been found. According to Hirosaki Mitsuya, an HIV researcher at the National Cancer Institute, even with sufficient funds there is no guarantee of anything. Indeed, most scientists agree with Mitsuya, stating that it is not a question of money or time but of whether medical science is sophisticated enough to find the cure (Sullivan, 1994, pp. 56-57).
Unfortunately, the more scientists learn about HIV, the more they realize they do not know. Basic research questions of precisely how HIV destroys the immune system, how HIV's replication can be controlled without having to kill the virus, and whether HIV has a latent period or is always at work have still not been answered. The good news is that people with HIV are living longer than they were in the early stages of the AIDS epidemic. However, this improvement is largely a result of doctors' success in combating the pneumonia that often accompanies the infection, rather than in fightinq the virus itself ("HIV," 1994, p. A17).
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a fourth drug, Stavudine, or D4T, for the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection. The three other drugs currently approved for treatment are zidovudine (AZT), didanosine (ddi), and zalcitabine
(ddc). While none of these drugs is a cure for AIDS, they may delay the onset of symptoms. According to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the manufacturer of Stavudine, this drug will be shipped to wholesalers at a wholesale cost of $6.22 daily per patient (FDA, 1994, p. A2). As disappointing as this is to those afflicted with the disease and to its future potential ...