viaAllAfrica, interview with Professor Salim Abdool Karim Professor Salim Abdool Karim, director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Columbia University in the United States, spoke to AllAfrica’s Julie Frederikse about the unexpected halt of a study into tenofovir vaginal gel. This followed a finding Read More >>

via allAfrica.com, by Julie Frederikse Africans tracking the worldwide HIV epidemic have not found much to celebrate since Aids began ravaging the continent 30 years ago, but researchers are optimistic that they are learning as much from their failures as their successes. Sub-Saharan Africa still carries the biggest burden of HIV worldwide, and while there has been Read More >>

via the Daily News, by Liz Clarke In the time it takes parents to see their children grow from birth to adulthood, the vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir has been under close and intense scrutiny. Now nobody is more keen to see the fast-track roll-out of the life-saving microbicide than Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim. Research initiated Read More >>

Via The Lancet, by Thomas J Coates. Larry Kramer, on accepting the Tony Award last month from the Theatre Guild-American Theatrical Society for The Normal Heart as Best Revival of a Play said: “To gay people everywhere, whom I love so dearly…we are a very special people, an exceptional people, and…our day will come.” My day came Read More >>

Via Times of India.  South African scientists, who launched a 24-month trial to confirm the efficacy of a microbicide gel that would reduce the risk of women getting HIV, have found an unexpected spin-off – it also boosts sexual pleasure. Wits professor Helen Rees, of the university’s reproductive health and HIV institute, said the R300m trial would Read More >>

Let the Sun Shine In From Positively Aware, by Jim Pickett (IRMA Chair) Excerpt: While the rectal microbicide field has gained significant momentum, more focus and resources are necessary. In 2010, 7.2 million U.S. dollars are being spent globally on rectal microbicide research. IRMA has calculated that annual investments must increase by 40% from 2011-2014, to $10 Read More >>

New Lines of Attack in H.I.V. Preventionvia New York Times, by Donald G. McNeil, Jr. [McNeil gets things a little confused overall in this article, sometime a bit fuzzy on the facts, but this has to be the most the New York Times has ever written on rectal microbicides, beyond the one word – “rectal.” This is Read More >>

Press Release from CONRAD October 25, 2010, Arlington, VA – – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held an end-of-Phase II meeting to determine the next steps required for U.S. licensure of 1% tenofovir gel, a microbicide product recently found to be effective at  reducing the rate of HIV and herpes infection in women when used Read More >>

via ONE, by Todd Summers At the big International AIDS Conference in Vienna a few weeks back, there was wide coverage of positive trial results for a new microbicide –- a gel that women can use to reduce their risk of getting infected with HIV. Giving women a prevention tool that they can use to protect themselves Read More >>

via Kaiser Family Foundation Experts gathered at a joint meeting of UNAIDS and the WHO last week called for two additional clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of a microbicide vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir, which previous studies have shown reduces the risk of HIV transmission in women who used it before and after Read More >>