Researchers present at the Conference on Retrovirus and Opportunistic Infections held in Montreal said an experimental vaginal gel has proved effective in preventing infection with HIV virus in women using it.

 

They based their sayings on trials involving about 3,100 women at seven clinical centers in Malaysia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and the United States. According to them, PRO 200, as the gel was called by its maker Indevus Pharmaceuticals in Lexington, Massachusetts, “might have a positive effect,” said Salim Abdool Karim, a Columbia University researcher who presented the findings at the conference.

 

To be more specific, women using the gel were 30 percent less likely to become infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The gel works by killing the virus before it enters the body through the vagina or rectum.

 

The company is expecting further results on PRO 200 that should be on the market by the end of 2009. Currently, the London-based Medical Research Council is conducting another trial on the gel. The trial involves about 9,500 women, three times the number involved in African and US trials.

 

However, the efficiency of the gel is seen as a step further in combating HIV all over the world. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Anthony Fauci said “an effective microbicide would be a valuable tool that women could use to protect themselves against HIV and one that could substantially reduce the number of new HIV infections worldwide.”