Hopes fade for HIV microbicide

Despite linkurl:promising early trial results,;https://www.ipmglobal.org/news_room/english/press_releases/2009/20090209_pro2000_buffergel_study.htm another microbicide for the prevention of HIV transmission was deemed ineffective, scientists at the UK Medical Research Council's Microbicides Development Programme (MDP) linkurl:announced;https://www.mdp.mrc.ac.uk/archive.html Monday (December 14). The failure of the PRO 2000 gel is part of a decade-long history of unsuccessful attempts to develop va

Written byKatherine Bagley

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HIV budding from infected host cell
Image: NIH

linkurl:PRO 2000;https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00262106 was the largest international clinical microbicide trial to date, involving 9,385 women at six research centers in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The placebo-controlled trial was carried out between September 2005 and September 2009. The polymer gel, provided by Endo Pharmaceuticals, was intended to disrupt HIV's interactions with its target cells. But scientists found that the risk of HIV infection for women using PRO 2000 was not significantly different than those using the placebo gel -- 130 of the 3,156 women given PRO 2000 developed HIV infections; 123 of the 3,112 women given the placebo gel developed HIV infections. After the failures of trials for linkurl:Ushercell,;https://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/52861/ which was halted when initial data suggested it increased risk of infection, and linkurl:Carraguard,;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54312/ which was shown to be ineffective in preventing HIV transmission, PRO 2000 was seen by many scientists as microbicide development's last hope. There are currently no microbicides approved for the prevention of HIV infection.
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:New hope for HIV microbicide;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55487/
[4th March 2009]*linkurl:Another HIV microbicide a bust;https://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54312/
[18th February 2008]*linkurl:Failure of HIV microbicide raises concerns;https://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/52861/
[21st February 2007]