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How 1,500 Dying Activists Outsmarted the U.S. Government
In 1987, there was one approved AIDS drug in the United States. It cost $10,000 a year. And the government's message to the people dying while they waited for more options was essentially: be patient.
ACT UP was not patient.
This is Part 1 of a three-part series on how queer activists didn't just fight the AIDS crisis, they fundamentally changed how medicine works in America. This episode covers the founding of ACT UP in 1987 and its first major action: a demonstration at the FDA that shut down the agency for a day and made national headlines. It covers the organizing genius behind the action, the underground networks importing unapproved drugs from abroad, the Wall Street protests targeting pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome over the price of AZT, and the radical fury that made all of it possible.
Larry Kramer. Peter Staley. The Silence=Death project. A movement built by people who were running out of time and decided to use every second of it.
This is where modern drug approval reform began. And it began with queer people who refused to die quietly.
Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/6BsqMos2oxc
Stay in touch: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com/subscribe
Website: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com
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Support the show
View all episodes
By Kris with a KIn 1987, there was one approved AIDS drug in the United States. It cost $10,000 a year. And the government's message to the people dying while they waited for more options was essentially: be patient.
ACT UP was not patient.
This is Part 1 of a three-part series on how queer activists didn't just fight the AIDS crisis, they fundamentally changed how medicine works in America. This episode covers the founding of ACT UP in 1987 and its first major action: a demonstration at the FDA that shut down the agency for a day and made national headlines. It covers the organizing genius behind the action, the underground networks importing unapproved drugs from abroad, the Wall Street protests targeting pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome over the price of AZT, and the radical fury that made all of it possible.
Larry Kramer. Peter Staley. The Silence=Death project. A movement built by people who were running out of time and decided to use every second of it.
This is where modern drug approval reform began. And it began with queer people who refused to die quietly.
Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/6BsqMos2oxc
Stay in touch: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com/subscribe
Website: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show