Research and career In the early 1980s, Corey worked with Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and pharmacologist Dr. Gertrude Elion to demonstrate that an antiviral that was selective and specific for a viral-specified enzyme could be safely and effectively administered to control a chronic viral infection (herpes simplex virus type 2 or HSV-2). Corey first conceived of and demonstrated the core concepts and direct line association between quantitative viral load reduction and clinical benefit using topical, intravenous and oral formulations of acyclovir in classic studies performed between 1980 and 1984. Acyclovir was the first antiviral drug to get rapid approval from the FDA, and it was Corey's studies that defined its use in genital herpes. These studies led to the licensure for acyclovir in a wide variety of infections such as HSV-1, HSV-2 and varicella chickenpox virus, including the first use of an antiviral for daily long term use. Acyclovir and its derivatives valacyclovir and famciclovir are the most prescribed antivirals in the world: over 400 million people have HSV-2 infection. These early studies prompted the subsequent successful involvement of the pharmaceutical and medical sciences communities to develop effective antiviral therapy for HIV and hepatitis B. In 1987, Corey directed the NIH supported AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), which was established to test antivirals to HIV-1, and conducted pivotal clinical trials demonstrating the use of the antiretroviral drug AZT to reduce maternal-fetal transmission of HIV and the usefulness of combinations of antiretrovirals to prolong survival from HIV. During this time, that laboratory demonstrated that HIV circulated in plasma well before the development of AIDS. The ACTG subsequently demonstrated that the initiation of therapy early during asymptomatic stages of HIV infection reduced progression to HIV and that combinations of antiretrovirals (3>2>1 drug) were critical to the control of HIV replication and management; the result being that HIV control has enabled life expectancy to increase globally. Triple combination therapy with two nucleosides and a protease inhibitor demonstrated a marked reduction in viral load, increase in CD4+ T-cell count and lowering of activation markers with the addition of the protease inhibitor. The ACTG was the first to lead the integration of community members into clinical research activities. In the mid-1990s, Corey increasingly focused his work in the area of vaccine development, and in 1998 worked with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a global clinical trials group to speed the