Preliminary trial data indicate nonoxynol-9 is not harmful, early findings also show that it does not significantly reduce HIV and sexually transmitted disease transmission rates. That's significant news for Procept followers!
Interesting Comments from the Female Health Company Press Release below:
"There is an urgent need for more methods to prevent HIV infection, especially those that put women in control,'' Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director."
"The search for an effective and safe vaginal microbicide(germ-killing agent) has been progressing too slowly -- we need to see more researchers from the public and private sectors acting with appropriate urgency to develop a microbicide, Piot said."
Press Release:
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UN urges more widespread use of female condom
NEW YORK, Jun 28 (Reuters Health) -- The female condom needs to be made more available to women,
especially those at increased risk of infection for HIV infection, according to officials at the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
''There is an urgent need for more methods to prevent HIV infection, especially those that put women in
control,'' Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director, said in a press release.
Since the early 1990s, the AIDS pandemic has shifted from men to women. According to UNAIDS estimates, women made up
25% of all cases of HIV infection in 1992. This figure has since risen to 43%.
''The search for an effective and safe vaginal microbicide (germ-killing agent) has been progressing too slowly -- we need to see
more researchers from the public and private sectors acting with appropriate urgency to develop a microbicide,'' Piot said.
Until such a compound is available, financial and program support of female condoms will be needed from donors, nongovernment
organizations and the international community, according to UNAIDS officials.
The UNAIDS Data Safety and Monitoring Board met this month to review clinical trials of a potential microbicide, the spermicide
nonoxynol-9. Trials are currently underway in Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, South Africa and Thailand. Although preliminary data indicate
that this agent is not harmful, early findings also show that it does not significantly reduce HIV and sexually transmitted disease
transmission rates.
The search for an effective microbicide is ''daunting, but not insurmountable,'' said Joseph Perriens, who manages the microbicide
development effort at UNAIDS. ''Most scientists today would agree that an effective microbicide against HIV would be possible
to develop -- as long as appropriate energy, resources, and a conducive research environment were there.''
In the meantime, UNAIDS has been collaborating with The Female Health Company (OTC BB:FHCO - news), based in Chicago,
Illinois, to make the female condom more available and affordable in developing countries. Thus far, 6 million female condoms
have been made available at a reduced cost in 16 developing countries through a special agreement.
''We hope to jump-start female condom distribution in countries that have not yet had access to it,'' said Bunmi Makinwa, who
works on the condom program at UNAIDS.
''We are confident that once programme managers and donors have seen that the female condom is acceptable to many women
and men, there will be no question about the return on investment in making the product widely available,'' Makinwa added in a
statement. |
