Drug Company Support is Critical to Advancing AIDS Prevention Effort: Statement by IPM CEO, Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, on New AIDS Statistics

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) releases the UNAIDS/WHO 2005 AIDS Epidemic Update

Zeda Rosenberg, Sc.D., Chief Executive Officer of the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), issued the following statement upon reviewing the 2005 AIDS Epidemic Update:

“Women continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV. Globally, 17.5 million women are living with HIV – one million more than in 2003. In several southern African countries, more than three-quarters of all young people living with HIV are women; in sub-Saharan Africa overall, young women between 15 and 24 years old are at least three times more likely to be HIV-positive than young men.

In many countries, marriage and women’s own fidelity are not enough to protect them against HIV infection. Among young women surveyed in Harare (Zimbabwe), Durban and Soweto (South Africa), 66 percent reported having one lifetime partner, and 79 percent had abstained from sex at least until the age of 17. Yet, 40 percent of the young women were HIV-positive. Many had been infected despite staying faithful to one partner.

New prevention strategies such as microbicides are desperately needed by the world’s women. Microbicides are products that could be applied topically to the vagina to reduce the transmission of HIV during sexual intercourse. Microbicides could take the form of a gel, cream, film, suppository, sponge or vaginal ring that releases the active ingredient gradually or a new formulation or delivery method yet to be invented.

Recent agreements between IPM and major pharmaceutical companies, which have agreed to release their drugs to IPM for development as microbicides royalty-free, are exactly what are needed to get microbicides into the hands of women who need them as fast as possible. I hope their leadership will compel other drug companies to follow with more compounds and new technologies.

According to the new UNAIDS report, the number of people living with HIV has increased in all but one region in the past two years. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the hardest-hit and is home to 25.8 million people living with HIV. Growing epidemics are also underway in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Asia.”

About IPM

The International Partnership for Microbicides was established to accelerate the development and accessibility of vaginal microbicides to prevent the transmission of HIV. By screening compounds, designing optimal formulations, establishing manufacturing capacity, developing trial sites and conducting large scale efficacy trials, the organization works to improve the efficiency of all efforts to develop and deliver safe and effective microbicides as soon as possible. IPM receives funding from the governments of Canada , Denmark , Ireland , the Netherlands , Norway , Sweden , the United Kingdom and the United States , as well as the European Commission, the Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations, and the World Bank. More information is available at www.IPMglobal.org.