[4] Common side effects include headache, diarrhea, vomiting, rash, and peripheral nerve problems.

Additionally, there have been case reports of fatal lactic acidosis in pregnant women receiving combination therapy of stavudine and didanosine with other antiviral agents.

[2] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that HIV-infected mothers not breastfeed their infants, in order to avoid the risk of HIV transmission through breast milk.

[2] Stavudine has been shown in laboratory test to be genotoxic, but with clinical doses its carcinogenic effects are non-existent.

Hyperlactatemia, bone mineral density (BMD) loss, reduction in limb fat and an increase in triglycerides were found when administered in high dosages.

HLA-B*4001 may be used as a genetic marker to predict which patients will develop stavudine-associated lipodystrophy, to avoid or shorten the duration of stavudine according to a study in Thailand.

In November 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that "[The WHO] recommends that countries phase out the use of stavudine, or d4T, because of its long-term, irreversible side-effects.

Stavudine is still widely used in first-line therapy in developing countries due to its low cost and widespread availability.

[14] When the AIDS epidemic occurred in the 1980s, William Prusoff and others at Yale University discovered the anti-HIV properties of stavudine.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) found an Indian manufacturer, who was willing to sell stavudine in South Africa for $40 per year per patient.

However, this deal fell apart, because Yale patented stavudine in South Africa, and was unwilling to issue a license to the Indian generic manufacturer.

Students sided with Médecins Sans Frontières and approached Yale with the idea to put pressure on Bristol-Myers Squibb to lower Stavudine's prices in South Africa and/or to issue patent licenses to generic manufacturers.

The FDA concluded that an increase in CD4 cell counts was an indicator of how effective the drug would be against AIDS and HIV infection.

Stavudine was the fourth drug to be approved for the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection by the FDA on 27 June 1994.