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About Microbicides
On this page, you will find:
- What are microbicides and why are they important?
- Where can we get microbicides?
- Why are microbicides needed?
- Why are microbicides not yet available?
- Isn't it expensive to develop this kind of product?
What are microbicides and why are they important?
The word "microbicides" refers to a range of different products that share one common characteristic: the ability to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) when applied topically. A microbicide could be produced in many forms, including gels, creams, suppositories, films, or as a sponge or ring that releases the active ingredient over time. Microbicides would be the most important innovation in reproductive health since the Pill.
Where can we get microbicides?
Scientists are currently testing many substances to see whether they help protect against HIV and/or other STIs, but no safe and effective microbicide is currently available to the public. However, scientists are seriously pursuing more than 50 product leads, including 11 that have proven safe and effective in animals and are now being tested in people. The results of the microbicides effectiveness trials now furthest along are expected in 2009, and it will take additional time for any successful product to be approved for licensure. The very soonest we can expect public access to a microbicide is in the next five years. This will only happen if one of the products now in effectiveness trials is successful. The first introduction will likely happen in the hardest-hit countries through small scale introductory programmes.
If the current set of products in effectiveness trials does not prove effective, this time horizon will be longer. There are several candidates already in clinical safety testing and in pre-clinical laboratory testing. The field needs to ensure that the entire research pipeline continues to advance.
Why are microbicides needed?
Today's prevention options --condoms, mutual monogamy, and STI treatment-- are not feasible for millions of people around the world, especially women. Many women do not have the social or economic power necessary to insist on condom use and fidelity or to abandon partnerships that put them at risk. Because microbicides would not require a partner's cooperation, they would put the power to protect into women's hands.
Why are microbicides not yet available?
Investment in microbicide R&D must expand dramatically --and quickly-- if the promise of microbicides is to be realised. In the short term, funding must come from the "public sector" --governments and philanthropic donors-- because it is not in the economic self-interest of pharmaceutical companies to fill this R&D gap.
Isn't it expensive to develop this kind of product?
Yes, however, it is essential that microbicides get into the hands of women and men who need them at a price they can afford. In the past, new health technologies have rarely become widely available in developing countries until more than a decade after their approval in the US and Europe, an unacceptable delay for this life-saving technology developed primarily with public funds. Advocates are working with researchers and policy makers to emphasise the need to address issues of access and affordability up front, in order to deliver a microbicide rapidly once it is proven safe and effective.
