Microbicide proves effective in reducing HIV infection

The quest to develop a topical vaginal product that protects against HIV infection took a huge step forward this week with news that results from a trial in South Africa showed that a new gel provided significant protection to the women who used it.

The randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial used a gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir and followed 889 women for an average of 18 months. It found that those who used the microbicide had an overall 39% lower rate of HIV infection than those in the placebo arm (5.6 versus 9.1 infections per 100 woman years (incidence rate ratio 0.61 (95% confidence interval 0.4 to 0.94; P=0.017)).

Importantly the researchers found a …