Clinical studies reveal effectiveness of vaginal microbicide ring in preventing HIV infection
Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, CEO of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre (DTHC) and member of the IDM, and her colleagues were part of two multi-country trials determining over a number of years the effectiveness of dapivirine vaginal microbicide rings in the prevention of HIV infection in women.
Both trials showed statistically significant reductions in HIV infections among women who used the vaginal ring containing the ARV dapivirine. Both trials also established that the dapivirine ring, used continuously for a month at a time, is safe to use. Risk of HIV infection was reduced overall by 27% and by 61% in women older than 25 years.
The results of the two trials, called ASPIRE/MTN 020 and The Ring Study/IPM 027, were disclosed at a press conference at the Conference on Retroviral and Opportunistic Infection in Boston, USA on Monday 22nd February 2016. The DTHC & Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation clinical research sites at Crossroads and Masiphumelele, Cape Town (respectively), were involved in both studies.
For more details see:
The New England Journal of Medicine online (NEJM.org), 22 February 2016
