A vag inal microbicide that incorporates an antiretroviral (ARV) drug normally used to treat people with HIV is safe for sexually active HIV-negative women to use every day over an extended period, suggest results of a clinical trial of tenofovir topical gel.
Moreover, most of the women who participated in the study conducted in India and the United States adhered to a regimen involving either daily or sex-dependent use of the gel, report researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) at Microbicides 2008, an international meeting taking place Feb. 24-26 at the Hotel Ashok in New Delhi.
The findings, presented today for the first time, are a significant boost to HIV prevention efforts focused on the potential of “next-generation” microbicides to curb infection rates in women. Globally, nearly half of those living with HIV/AIDS are women, and between 70 and 90 percent of all HIV infections in women are due to heterosexual inter course. In India and many other parts of the world, even married women and women with steady partners are at risk.
Source: Microbicide Trials Network, USA