Pre-80s
Researchers today have identified a number of events before the first documented case of AIDS in 1981.
There are differing views, but recent evidence suggests that a form of ape immunodeficiency virus jumped to humans who may have hunted chimpanzees in tropical Africa in the 1930s.
Scientists used stored blood samples to trace the first known case of AIDS to a man who died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1959.
1980s
By the end of 1981, the year of the first documented cases of AIDS, just over 120 people are known to have died from the unidentified disease.
Along with the pneumonia associated with the disease, doctors notice a prevalence of a rare type of skin cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma.
The term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is established and the CDC says that in addition to gay men, other groups at risk include injecting drug users, people of Haitian origin and haemophiliacs.
By the end of 1982, AIDS is detected on five continents.
In 1983, the virus responsible for AIDS is discovered by Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris and later by Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute in Washington. The discovery sparks debate over who was first, but the scientific community today gives this credit to Montagnier. The virus is later named the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Cases of AIDS passed on by heterosexual intercourse are identified.
The first International AIDS Conference is held in Atlanta, US, in 1985.
In 1987, Burroughs Wellcome, one of GSK's legacy companies, makes history when antiretroviral therapy first becomes available. The drug works by stopping HIV from replicating in cells.
In the same year, Diana, Princess of Wales affects the public perception of AIDS when she shakes hands - without gloves - with people with AIDS.
1990s
The red ribbon is adopted as an international symbol of AIDS awareness in 1991.
In 1992 the first two-drug combination therapies for HIV are introduced.
In 1992 Glaxo establishes Positive Action, recognising the pivotal role played by communities in responding to the world's HIV/AIDS epidemics. The programme has supported 65 projects in 63 countries around the world in partnership with 54 organisations since 2002.
By the mid-1990s, one million cases of AIDS are reported to WHO.
Established in 1996, UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS is set up to focus the resources and efforts of 10 UN agencies targeting HIV and AIDS.
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is set up in 1996 to help speed the search for an HIV vaccine.
In 1996 HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy), a combination of three antiretrovirals, offers longer AIDS-free survival for people with HIV.
In 1997, GSK makes great strides in offering antiretroviral therapy approved for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission at preferential prices in the developing world.
Agouron Pharmaceuticals launches the protease inhibitor Viracept. In 2000, Pfizer acquires Agouron, and the right to market Viracept in Canada, the United States, and US territories and possessions in its merger with Warner-Lambert.
The first full-scale trial of a vaccine against HIV begins in 1998 in the US and in the following year estimates are made that 33 million people are infected with HIV and 14 million have died of AIDS worldwide.
In 1999, AIDS becomes the fourth biggest killer worldwide.
By the end of the decade, 90 per cent of all people infected with HIV live in the developing world.
2000 onwards
In 2000, GSK becomes a member of the Accelerating Access Initiative, a new partnership between five R&D-based organisations and five UN agencies with the goal of improving treatment and care in developing countries.
In 2001, GSK publishes its Facing the Challenge report that outlines the company's commitment to tackling HIV/AIDS by offering its antiretroviral medicines at not-for-profit prices in sub-Saharan Africa and the Least Developed Countries.
In 2000, Pfizer launches the Diflucan Partnership with the mission to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV and AIDS. Pfizer and its partners distribute millions of Diflucan (fluconazole) treatments for two AIDS-related fungal infections free of charge to governmental and nongovernmental organisations in developing countries. Pfizer also provides materials to support patient education and health care worker training.
In 2002, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) is established to fight three of the world's most devastating diseases.
Five million people are newly infected with AIDS during 2003, the biggest number in a year to date.
Three million die from AIDS in the same year.
On World AIDS Day 2003, the "3x5 Initiative" is set up to treat three million people living with HIV/AIDS by 2005. It represents an important step in providing universal access to AIDS treatment to all who need it.
2002 - The Pfizer Foundation launches a three-year initiative to provide grants to support training and capacity-building for HIV/AIDS in developing countries. 12 organisations receive grants through the International HIV/AIDS Health Literacy Grants Programme.
2003 - Global Health Fellows programme is launched with the goal of improving basic health care infrastructure in the developing world by loaning Pfizer employees to local non-profit organisations and health service providers.
2004 - Southern HIV/AIDS Prevention Initiative (SHAPI), the Pfizer Foundation's first US HIV/AIDS philanthropy programme, is launched. SHAPI is the first programme with a focus on prevention
2004 - Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) is established in Kampala, Uganda, through a partnership of Pfizer, Accordia Global Health Foundation and Makerere. By the end of 2005, 1.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS are treated with antiretroviral medicines in developing countries.
In its 2006 report, UNAIDS estimates that to date, around 65 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV and AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since 1981.
2007 - ConnectHIV is launched by the Pfizer Foundation in the ten US states with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection: California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. It is a three-year (2007 to 2009), $7.5 million programme.
2007 - On 6 August 2007, the United States Food and Drug Administration approves maraviroc (marketed as Selzentry in the US), which was discovered and developed in Pfizer's laboratories in Sandwich, England, for use in the US. The first in a new class of oral HIV medicines in more than ten years, maraviroc is approved for use in combination with other HIV medications for adults who have the CCR5-tropic strain of HIV that is resistant to multiple antiretroviral agents. Since 2007, maraviroc (marketed as Celsentri outside the US) has been approved and launched in over 55 countries globally.
2009 - In April 2009, GSK and Pfizer set up ViiV Healthcare - a new world-leading specialist company dedicated to HIV treatment.
2009 - In July 2009, a new 'Positive Action for Children' Fund is created with £50 million available over 10 years to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to support orphans and vulnerable children. A £10 million seed funding will support a Public Private Partnership into research and development of new HIV/AIDS medicines for children.
2009 - On 3 November 2009, ViiV Healthcare is launched as a new specialist HIV company dedicated to delivering advances in HIV treatment and care.