In 1996, a new class of HIV drugs changed everything. The protease inhibitors, combined with existing antiretroviral treatments, turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable chronic condition for people who could access them. The dying slowed. Friends who had been given months to live started making plans for years.

This episode is Part 3 of "How Queers Saved Modern Medicine," and it tells the story of how that breakthrough happened, and what it cost to get there. It covers the activists and researchers who pushed for faster trials, better data sharing, and international access. It covers the 1996 International AIDS Conference in Vancouver, where the results were announced and the room erupted. And it looks at where we are now: PrEP, the drug that can prevent HIV transmission almost entirely, is under political threat at the moment this episode was recorded.

The activists who fought for protease inhibitors and the Ryan White CARE Act and parallel track trials paid with their grief, their health, and their time. Some paid with their lives. The treatments that exist today are their inheritance to us.

What we do with that inheritance is our responsibility.

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/_ZhbHARQzDA
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