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3'-Azido-3'-deoxythymidine | |
| Empirical Formula | C10H13N5O4 |
| Molecular Weight | 267.24 |
| Half-Life | Approx. 3.3hours |
| Excretion | Renal |
| Pregnancy category | FDA Pregnancy category C |
Zidovudine ( INN) or azidothymidine (abbreviated to AZT) is an anti- retroviral drug, the first antiviral treatment to be approved for use against HIV. It is also sold under the names Retrovir and Retrovis.
AZT was originally developed to treat cancer, at a time when it was thought that cancer was caused by a retrovirus. This premise is not as odd as it may sound today, avian cancers are caused by viruses, and it was thought that the mammalian version simply hadn't been found yet. A considerable amount of research was put into discovering ways to block this virus once it was found. By the 1970s the viral premise of cancer was coming under increased scrutiny and most such research ended.
Jerome Horowitz first synthesized the drug in 1964Events January January 1 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. January 3 Senator Barry Goldwater announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for President. January 5 In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Ort, under a USThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ą or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in National Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health is an institution of the United States government which focuses on medical research. The Institutes are located in Bethesda, Maryland. The predecessor of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began in 1887 as the Labora (NIH) grantIn the United States Federal grants are economic aid issued by the United States government. Grants may also be issued by private non-profit organizations such as foundations, not-for-profit corporations or charitable trusts which are all collectively ref. When the viral premise was dropped, AZT essentially disappeared. Years later in February 19851985 is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January events January 1 Creation of the Internet's Domain Name System. January 17 British Telecom annouces they are going to abolish the famous red telephone boxes. January 23 A debate in the House of Lor, NIH's Hiroaki Mitsuya demonstrated the drug's effectiveness against HIV, due to its ability to block the action of the " reverse transcriptaseReverse transcriptase is an enzyme used by all retroviruses that transcribes the genetic information from the virus from RNA into DNA, which can integrate into the host genome. Eukaryotes with linear DNA uses a variant of reverse transcriptase, called tel" enzymeAn enzyme is a protein, or protein complex, that catalyzes a chemical reaction. Like any catalyst, enzymes work by lowering the activation energy of a reaction, thus allowing the reaction to proceed to its steady state or completion much faster than it ot that HIV uses to replicate its RNARNA may also stand for the Republic of New Africa Ribonucleic acid RNA is a nucleic acid consisting of a string of covalently-bound nucleotides. It is biochemically distinguished from DNA by the presence of an additional hydroxyl group, attached to each p for splicing into the DNA of a target cell.The formula soon purchased by Burroughs-Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline), which filed for a patent on AZT in 1986. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for use against HIV on March 20, 1987, and then as a preventative treatment in 1990. When it was first administered dosages tended to be much higher than today, typically one 400mg dose every four hours (even at night) and one of AZT's side-effects includes anemia which was a common complaint. Modern treatment regimens typically use lower dosages two to three times a day in order to improve the overall quality of life. AZT is also almost always combined with other drugs in order to prevent in-situ mutation of the HIV into an AZT-resistant form – it's much more difficult to develop two resistances at once.