|
The first (1) anti-AIDS vaginal gel to make it through late-stage testing failed to stop HIV infection in a study of 6,000 South African women,disappointed researchers announced.
The new study tested Carraguard, a microbicide developed by the nonprofit, New York-based Population Council. It contains carrageenan, which comes from seaweed and is widely used in the food and cosmetics industries as a gel, stabilizer and thickening agent.Lab, animal and early human tests suggested it might prevent HIV and other sexually spread infections.
The latest study was done from March 2004 through March 2007 in Gugulethu, Isipingo and Soshanguve, all in South Africa. More than 9,000 women, average age 31, volunteered for the study.About 27 percent tested positive for HIV and were disqualified. In all, 6,202 women were randomly given either Carraguard or a placebo gel. Women participated from nine months to two years, with 4,244 completing the study.
At the end of the study, there were 134 new HIV infections in the Carraguard group and 151 in the fake gel group — a rate of 3.3 infections per 100 women each year in the microbicide group and 3.7 for the placebo group.
"The results are comparable," with no statistically significant difference, said Khatija Ahmed, a microbiologist who headed the study's research centre.
However,women in the study used the gels only 44 percent of the time, and some used it hardly at all. Researchers are still analyzing the numbers to see what that means.
The Population Council hopes to start tests this year of a revamped Carraguard containing an experimental AIDS drug, MIV-150. The group also has studies under way of a contraceptive version of the gel,Carraguard plus hormones. ■AP
|
