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CROI 2015: Disappointing Result for Tenofovir Gel Microbicide

Among some highly promising results from HIV prevention studies presented at the 2015 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) last week in Seattle, there was one disappointment. FACTS 001, a study testing the efficacy against HIV of a vaginal microbicide gel containing tenofovir, produced a null result: there was no difference in the HIV infection rate for young women given the active gel and the rate for those given a placebo gel.

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CROI 2015: Tenofovir Vaginal Gel Not Effective Overall Against HIV [VIDEO]

The FACTS 001 trial evaluating a vaginal microbicide gel containing tenofovir did not show overall effectiveness for preventing HIV infection among young women in South Africa, although the product did appear to provide some protection for women who were able to use it consistently, according to a presentation at the 2015 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) last week in Seattle.

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Semen May Enhance HIV Infectivity and Impair Microbicide Effectiveness

A component in semen appears to increase the likelihood of sexual transmission of HIV, and furthermore may enable the virus to over-power topical microbicides designed to prevent infection, according to a study published in the November 12 edition of Science Translational Medicine. This may be one of the factors explaining why drugs that block HIV infection in laboratory experiments have not worked in real-world settings, the researchers suggested.

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Study of Truvada PrEP and Tenofovir Vaginal Gel Misses Mark Due to Low Adherence

The final published report in the New England Journal of Medicine from the VOICE trial of HIV prevention for women in 3 African countries mainly reinforces what conference presentations have already shown: this ambitious trial failed to demonstrate the effectiveness of either oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or of a tenofovir-containing vaginal microbicide gel, and the reason for this was that only 25%-30% of women actually used the study product, despite 88% claiming they did so. The gel, however, may have stopped 2 out of 3 infections among women who used it.

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HIVR4P 2014: Vaginal Rings Show Promise for HIV Prevention

A silicone intravaginal ring that releases the antiretroviral drugs dapivirine and darunavir was shown to reach levels expected to be effective in vaginal and cervical fluid and tissues in monkeys, researchers reported at the HIV Research for Prevention meeting last week in Cape Town. A related study found that a single ring can potentially serve multiple purposes, preventing HIV, genital herpes, HPV, and pregnancy.

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