NEWS: Vaginal gel reduces HIV by 30%

Friday, 13th March, 2009 from NEW VISION

A vaginal gel being tested in Uganda to protect women from HIV has yielded promising results in separate trials in South Africa and USA. The microbicide candidate PRO2000 is being tested by Masaka Medical Research Council (MRC) in a study involving approximately 15,500 people from 25 villages. Microbicides are gels, foams or devices that are inserted in the vagina before sex to prevent HIV transmission during sex. Prof. Salim Abdool Karim of the University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, announced at the 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, which ended on February 11 in Montreal, Canada, that the experimental microbicide reduced HIV transmission by 30%. It is the first time an experimental microbicide registers such success. The US-funded Microbicide Trials Network, which involved 3,099 women in Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the US, prevented about a third of potential infections in women who used it, Karim said. Dr. Clementia Nakabito, one of the leading microbicide researchers in Uganda, said results of the PRO2000 trial in South Africa and America were ‘promising’ rather than ‘effective’. “Although it is very exciting, 30% is not good enough. It fell short of the statistical baseline of 33%,” she said. “But generally, the study, while not conclusive, provides a glimmer of hope to millions of women at risk for HIV, especially young women in Africa.” She said results of related trials in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa are expected this month. If these sites also show a 30% success rate, the microbicide may be tried on a bigger population or studied closer in comparison with the new generation vaginal microbicides which use ARVs. Nakabiito is the principle investigator in another microbicide study by Makerere University-John Hopkins University research Collaboration, which is formulated using antiretroviral drugs. Currently, women make up half of all people worldwide living with HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa, they represent nearly 60% of adults living with HIV. An effective microbicide could provide women with an HIV prevention method they can initiate. This would be particularly helpful in situations that abound in many places in Africa where it is very difficult, if not impossible, for women to refuse sex or negotiate condom use with their male partners.