Abbott Laboratories, a U.S. healthcare company, played a significant role in the development of HIV testing technology. However, it was not until 1984 that they created the first HIV test. It started in 1983 when the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was identified as the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This discovery was made by researchers at the Pasteur Institute in France and the National Cancer Institute in the United States. In 1984, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed the first commercially available blood test to detect HIV antibodies. This test, known as the enzyme immunoassay (EIA), was developed by Dr. Robert Gallo and his team at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in collaboration with Abbott Laboratories. They developed a second-generation HIV test, the HIV-1 Western blot test in 1987. This test allowed for more accurate and specific detection of HIV antibodies. Abbott Laboratories also developed third-generation tests in the 1990s. These tests were vital in detecting and reducing the number of new cases of HIV during the peak of the AIDS epidemic of the 80’s.
