A new HIV prevention method for women will soon be submitted to local and international regulatory authorities.
Scientists at the 8th SA Aids Conference in Durban are excited about a vaginal ARV ring, called the Dapivirine ring, said to reduce women’s risk of infection by 30 percent, eNCA reports.
Current Statistics show women between the ages of 15 and 24 carry the highest burden of HIV in South Africa, this according to the report.
The trials required over 4 000 HIV-negative women aged between 18 and 45 in South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Malawi to insert a flexible silicone ring containing the antiretroviral dapavirine into their vaginas. They had to replace the ring every month over a period of two years.
The two studies – known as the Ring Study and the ASPIRE trial – were started in 2012 and designed in collaboration with the Partnership for Microbicides and the Microbicides Trials Network respectively.
These results are “ground-breaking” as they offer another prevention option to women who often cannot negotiate condom use with male partners, said Jared Baeten, who lead the ASPIRE trial
Trial results will in the next two weeks be sent to the European Medical Association, a body the World Health Organisation relies on for scientific opinion.
Dapivirine ring is a small silicone ring inserted in the vagina, releasing a contraceptive (levonorgestrel) and an anti-HIV drug (dapivirine).
The ring is made of a flexible silicone matrix polymer and contains dapivirine, an ARV, and levonorgestrel, a contraceptive hormone, both of which are slowly released over the course of three months.
