Much has been written comparing the coronavirus epidemic with the 1918 flu that killed an estimated 675,000 U.S. citizens, about the same number as those who have died with AIDS. During the AIDS epidemic, the Food and Drug Administration was a crucial factor, as it is now. So, the mistakes the FDA made with the AIDS epidemic can be instructive today — if we are willing to learn from them.

The FDA’s greatest mistake on AIDS was the agency’s attempt to delay approval of the protease cocktails for three years to more thoroughly test their efficacy. This was prevented by protesting AIDS activists. Had the FDA succeeded in imposing that delay, AIDS would have taken at least 86,000 additional lives in the United States during those three years.