V@ginal Ring May Protect Women From HIV

 

V@ginal Ring May Protect Women From HIV,Study Finds

In a new approach to HIV prevention, women modestly reduced their risk of infection by inserting a vaginal ring coated with an anti-AIDS drug once a month, according to two long-awaited studies from Africa.

The ring proved safe although it cut HIV infections by less than a third overall, researchers reported Monday. But surprisingly, it worked far better in women 25 and older, leaving researchers wondering if the youngest women, who got little to no benefit, simply didn’t use the device properly.

“For a woman to have a prevention tool that she can control is an incredibly important goal,” said Dr. Jared Baeten of the University of Washington, who led a National Institutes of Health-funded study of the ring.

“I want rings, pills and other strategies to be on the shelf for women so they can make choices for what’s going to work for them.”

Despite the questions the studies raise, the nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides said it considered the results promising enough to seek appropriate regulatory approval for wider use in parts of Africa.

“You can’t just say, ‘Until something is perfect, we’re going to wait,’ ” said Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, founding chief executive officer of IPM. “We have to give women options.”

Women make up more than half of the nearly 37 million people worldwide living with HIV, most of them in hard-hit Africa and scientists have long sought tools to help them protect themselves when their partners won’t use a condom.

Aside from condoms, healthy people also can take a daily anti-AIDS pill to lower their risk from an infected partner. That so-called “pre-exposure prophylaxis” isn’t widely available in poor countries, and other attempts at HIV-blocking vaginal gels haven’t yet panned out.

Vaginal rings are sold in the U.S. for birth control, but the anti-AIDS version tested in Africa contained no contraception.

Instead, it slowly oozes an experimental virus-blocking drug named dapivirine into the surrounding vaginal tissue. Women would replace the ring once a month, when it was time for another dose.