The UK government is to provide an extra £24 million of funding for a trial into the safety and efficacy of an HIV microbicide.
Within four months, the microbicide gel will be provided to women in Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia as part of a study that is expected to last for three years.
Earlier phases of research into the microbicide gel being investigated in this study, PRO2000, suggest that it could offer effective protection to women against HIV if applied in the vagina before sex.
“AIDS is the biggest killer in Africa. Most infections occur among young African women” said International Development secretary, Hilary Benn MP. He added “women vulnerable to infection are frequently unable to refuse sex or to insist on the use of condoms…a microbicide gel, if effective, could help women to protect themselves against HIV infection and help reverse the spread of the disease globally.”
The study is being conducted by the Microbicides Development Programme, which is jointly funded by the UK’s Department for International Development and Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC’s Clinical Trials Unit and the clinical trials centre at London’s Imperial College will jointly coordinate the study.
Total government funding for the study amounts to £26 million. “The funding will take us one step further towards identifying an effective microbicide – a crucial element of our effort to reduce HIV transmission”, said Prof. Janet Darbyshire, Director of the MRC Clinical Trials Unit.