MICROBICIDE TRIALS CONTINUE DESPITE SETBACK

Even though a trial of an HIV microbicide gel was halted last week due to safety issues, a new trial is under way in Uganda of a different microbicide product. A total of 234 Ugandan women have been enrolled in the trial, reports the country's daily newspaper, New Vision.

The trial of PRO2000 is being conducted by the Medical Research Council and the Uganda Virus Research Institute, according to the New Vision article. The drug will also be tested at sites in South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.

Four microbicide gels to protect against HIV are currently being studied. Besides PRO2000 they are carraguard, buffergel and cellulose sulphate, the last of which was found in a Phase III trial to actually increase the risk of acquiring HIV, causing investigators to end the study.

Microbicides advocacy groups claim that in Benin, South Africa and Uganda, where the cellulose sulphate trials took place, many of the women could have already had HIV, causing the disappointing results, according to the article. Groups also agree that the other microbicide trials must continue.

"Of course we wish the results had been different, but learning what doesn't work can be just as important to progress as learning what does work," Lori Heise, director of the Global Campaign for Microbicides, said in a release on the group's website.

"This is a setback, but it does not detract from the issue that women still don't have the tools they need to protect themselves from HIV," Manju Chatani, coordinator of the African Microbicide Advocacy Group, said.