Vaginal Anti-HIV Gel Shows Promise in Large-Scale Study in Women
A microbicide gel intended to prevent HIV infection in women was 30% effective, according to results from a clinical trial conducted at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and six trial sites in Africa. This is the first human clinical study to suggest that a microbicide gel may prevent male-to-female sexual transmission of HIV infection.
“A safe and effective microbicide could protect women and substantially reduce new HIV infections here in Philadelphia and globally,” says Lisa A. Maslankowski, M.D., principal investigator of HPTN 035 and lead researcher of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Division^s Microbicide Trials Unit at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “While further clinical research is needed to more definitively determine the gel’s effectiveness, the results of this study represent a significant step forward for HIV prevention research.”
Currently, women comprise half of all people worldwide living with HIV. In the United States, there are an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS and a quarter of the 35,314 people newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2006 were women according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In sub-Saharan Africa, women represent nearly 60 percent of adults living with HIV, and in several southern African countries young women are at least three times more likely to be HIV-positive than young men.
In most cases, women become infected with HIV through sexual intercourse with an infected male partner. Although no microbicides are approved or available for use, an effective product could provide women with an HIV prevention method they initiate. This would be particularly helpful in situations where it is difficult or impossible for women to negotiate condom use with their male partners to prevent HIV transmission.
