A new International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) was formally launched last week in Antwerp during the Microbicides 2002 meeting. The organisation has support from the Rockefeller Foundation and several government donors, is hosted by Family Health International in the USA, and its founding Director is Zeda Rosenberg.
The IPM closely resembles the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and other public-private partnerships in the health field, and has drawn on some of the same expertise to design it. It will have two main areas of activity: research and development, to advance promising products through the pipeline; and action to secure future access, especially for poorer women in heavily affected countries. The agenda for the new organisation is set out in a series of reports which were sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and are available through its website.
Initial funding pledges have been made by the Rockefeller Foundation (US$15 million over five years), the Netherlands’ Ministry for Development Cooperation (€8 million over 4 years) and the UK’s Department for International Development (£1.2 million over 4 years). Ireland Aid is expected to follow suit, having been delayed in making a decision by the recent Irish general election.
The IPM has declared that it will work closely in partnership with established groups in the field, such as the Global Campaign for Microbicides and Prevention Options for Women and the Alliance for Microbicide Development.
The Microbicides 2002 meeting in Antwerp ended on Wednesday with a call from Mr Eddy Boutmans, the Belgian Secretary for Development Cooperation, for microbicide development as part of the wider response needed to HIV and AIDS.
Whether the next Microbicides meeting will take place in 2004 or 2005, and where it will be held, has not yet been decided.
Previous coverage of the Microbicides 2002 conference on aidsmap.com is contained in the following reports:
Microbicides 2002 opens in Antwerp, products getting nearer
How do you want your microbicide? (on formulation issues)
Mucosal immunity, vaccines and microbicides
Nonoxynol-9 is not a microbicide, warning to gay men
What is in the microbicide pipeline?
The aidsmap.com links page on microbicides has now been updated to include further information on vaginal and rectal microbicides.