Title: New HIV Preventatives Could Revolutionize the Global Fight Against AIDS

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Section/SPIG: HIV/AIDS

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In advance of the Microbicides 2004 conference in London, which took place March 28 - 31, 2004, and drew over 800 participants from 53 countries, senior scientists and HIV experts from the Medical Research Council, the Imperial College London and the Department for International Development issued a news release saying that the development of microbicides - new weapons in the armory defending against HIV infection - could revolutionize the global fight against AIDS.

Microbicides are substances that could offer protection against infection from HIV and are being developed into cream and gels to be applied to the vagina or rectum before sexual intercourse, explain researchers. A number of microbicidal products are likely to be on the market and accessible before an HIV vaccine, and even with only moderate update, could prevent 2.5 million deaths from AIDS over three years, they say. There are 62 candidate microbicides in development and six that have entered, or are about to enter, Phase III clinical trials.

These products are intended to work in a number of ways: killing or otherwise immobilizing the virus; blocking infection by creating a barrier between the virus and the cells of the vagina or the rectum; or by preventing the infection from taking hold after it has entered the body. Ideally, a microbicide would combine these mechanisms for extra effectiveness.

Jonathan Weber, Professor in Genito-Urinary Medicine and Communicable Diseases at Imperial College in London and Microbicides 2004 co-chair, said, "We desperately need new methods to prevent HIV transmission in the face of rising prevalence of infection globally. As we still have not been able to develop an effective HIV vaccine, vaginal microbicides are now the most promising biomedical intervention for the prevention of HIV infection on the horizon."

A day-long satellite session titled "Challenges in Rectal Microbicide Development" took place on the 28th at the Royal Society of Medicine. The meeting, sponsored by the HIV Prevention Trials Network of the Division of AIDS at the National Institutes of Health, the UCLA AIDS Institute, amfAR and Virco-Tibotec, provided a detailed update on the epidemiology and behavioral aspects of anal intercourse, the mathematical modeling of the impact of rectal microbicides, the pathogenesis of the mucosal transmission of HIV, and approaches to rectal microbicide development. The necessity for vaginal microbicides to be safe for use in the rectum was noted.

Updates on recent international microbicide research and development, including information on the first Phase III trials, were presented at the conference, which was held at the Hilton London Metropole.

For further information, visit the following Web sites:

Microbicides 2004 - <http://www.microbicides2004.org.uk>

The Alliance for Microbicide Development - <http://www.microbicide.org>

The Global Campaign for Microbicides - <http://www.global-campaign.org>


*Summary of news release from the Medical Research Council, dated March 23, 2004, and other official conference documents prepared by Jim Pickett.