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Biotech / Medical : Procept (PRCT): 50% rise on high volume. Why? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Douglas who wrote (392)	5/23/1999 10:09:00 AM
From: Douglas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 455

"There are 20 microbicide products in some stage of development, but two are farthest along, Population Council of New York and Procept of Massachusetts." WOMAN NEWS CONFERENCE PUSHES ANTI-AIDS MICROBICIDES Eric Onstad Special to the Tribune 05/19/1999 Chicago Tribune A range of invisible, odorless substances holds the prospect of putting women, especially in Africa, in control of preventing AIDS. But microbicides are not getting the major research push they deserve because drug firms see little chance of making big profits, experts say. For about 12 years, scientists have been trying to develop an inexpensive gel or cream designed to go in the vagina before sex that would kill the HIV virus, which causes AIDS. "We all realize that this would be the next important advance," Nicholas Dodd, head of the technical branch of the United Nations Population Fund, said during a recent conference. "These would give a way for women themselves to have control over preventing AIDS infections because, of course, with condoms they have to depend on men," he said. The conference, which studied progress since a landmark population meeting in Cairo in 1994, called for more funding for microbicide research. Finding a microbicide that works has gained extra urgency over the last few years as the number of infected women soars. Last year 70 percent of the 5.8 million new AIDS infections occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, and young women there have the fastest infection rate. "In some of the worst affected countries, HIV-infected women outnumber infected men by as much as 16 to one in the younger age groups," the joint United Nations project UNAIDS said in a recent report. Microbicides are at the very least five years from coming onto the market even if current trials prove positive. With female condoms too expensive for most women in poor countries, more resources are needed to speed the process, officials said. But major pharmaceutical firms have shown little interest in developing such a product. One reason is a spate of lawsuits, especially in the U.S., regarding contraceptives or related products. "The companies shy away from liability in product development," said Joseph Perriens, microbicides expert at UNAIDS. "Also they have the perspective that 90 percent of the market for this kind of product is perceived in developing countries where there is no buying power. I think those perceptions are mistaken," he added. With big drug companies out of the picture, the initiative has fallen to governments, private organizations and small biotechnology firms. They have 20 microbicide products in some stage of development, but two are farthest along, Perriens said. One is from the Population Council in New York, which has a long history of developing contraceptives. That product, code-named PC512, is soon due to start clinical human trials in South Africa and possibly Thailand. It is a gel that uses a byproduct of seaweed, and nonoxynol-9, which has been used for years as a spermicide, said George Brown, vice president of international programs. "It has been shown to be very promising in a series of lab studies and very soft studies in humans," he added. The product would be cheap and easy to use. "One of our goals is to get a product that would be sufficiently low cost so that most if not all African and other women around the world could have access," Brown said. Procept Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., is also due to launch human trials this year in the U.S. and South Africa for its product, PRO 2000 Gel. The National Institute of Health, one of two U.S. agencies spending $25 million per year since 1996 on microbicide research, is sponsoring the clinical trial. The first microbicide products used nonoxonyl-9 alone, but that was shown to irritate the walls of the vagina and actually allow easier infection. The answer to an effective microbicide may lie in using a cocktail of substances, said Perriens, who previously worked at developing drugs. "The weakness of all the current microbicides designs is they have a sole mechanism of action," he said. "It is my opinion that to have a very effective microbicide you will probably have to combine several active ingredients so you have a multi-step inhibition of HIV entry into the body."