Test of Foundation-Supported AIDS Treatment Halted

Researchers have ended two trials of a microbicide gel that grant makers had hoped would prevent AIDS infection after preliminary data revealed that people who used it were contracting AIDS at a higher rate than other people, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Conrad, a health-research organization supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, had aimed to put the gel, known as Ushercell, on the market by the end of the decade. Scientists have considered microbicides a promising way to decrease AIDS infections in populations that resist using condoms.

“This is obviously a huge disappointment at a time we desperately need more options to combat the virus,” said Jennifer Kates, director of HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

It is not known if the gel actually caused the higher incidence of AIDS infection or if the study was flawed.

“We need to let the dust settle here and wait for the researchers to find out what really happened,” said Ian McGowan, a professor of medicine at UCLA and a microbicide researcher.

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