DURING the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, there were no effective treatments against H.I.V., the virus that causes the disease. Because of this, many thousands of people died lingering deaths. The desperation of those times led to the rise of an activist movement that took to the streets and pressed government officials to expedite research on drugs to treat AIDS.

The danger of faster drug approval was that a devil’s bargain would be struck: quicker access to experimental drugs, but without first determining whether these drugs were safe and would improve health and extend life.

How that danger was navigated in the AIDS battle offers essential warnings for Congress as it considers the 21st Century Cures Act, which would lower standards for the approval of many medical products and potentially place patients at unnecessary risk.

As the AIDS crisis ballooned in the 1980s, the Food and Drug Administration became a target of groups like Act Up (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). Activists saw the agency, which approves prescription drugs, as a lumbering bureaucracy that delayed testing and early access to new drugs. It seemed indifferent to the sufferings of thousands, including some of the most vulnerable in our society: gay men, minorities, drug users and infants.