IPM Receives Multi-year Award From Danish Government to Advance Woman-Centered HIV Prevention and Sexual and Reproductive Health Technologies

Funding will support development, potential introduction of IPM’s monthly dapivirine ring, and other new long-acting products that could empower women with more options to protect their own health

SILVER SPRING, Md. (December 8, 2017) — The nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) announced today that it has received a DKK 20 million (USD 3.2 million) award over four years from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to advance innovative HIV and multipurpose prevention products designed to empower women with self-initiated tools they could use to protect their sexual and reproductive health. The grant will help support IPM’s regulatory submission process and potential product introduction for the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring, which IPM developed with support from previous Danish government funding and other donors.

The ring is designed to meet the urgent need for a discreet, long-acting option for women, who insert and replace the ring themselves every month. In 2016, the ring became the first microbicide and first long-acting product shown to reduce women’s HIV risk in two large clinical trials. The ring is now under review by the European Medicines Agency. IPM currently plans to submit applications to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (formerly the Medicines Control Council) in early 2018, followed by the US Food and Drug Administration and other national regulatory authorities in Africa, where women face the highest risk for HIV.   

“We are working toward a future where women have the range of safe, effective and affordable prevention options they need to stay healthy and HIV-free, and we applaud the Denmark government’s investment in that shared vision,” said Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, IPM’s founder and CEO. “Today’s announcement underscores the importance of partnership in empowering women with innovative solutions to protect their sexual and reproductive health.”

The new award will also help IPM build on its dapivirine ring technology with a suite of next-generation microbicides for women, including IPM’s three-month dapivirine-contraceptive ring designed to offer simultaneous protection against HIV and unintended pregnancy. Results of the first trial of that product are expected in 2018. HIV/AIDS and complications from unintended pregnancy—a major contributor to maternal mortality—are two of the leading threats to women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly in developing countries. In addition, the award will help finance the development of a three-month dapivirine-only ring that would increase convenience and reduce annual costs.

IPM holds an exclusive worldwide license for dapivirine from Janssen Sciences Ireland UC, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. This license helps ensure that future products would be affordable to women in low-resource settings.

The Danish government is one of IPM’s founding donors, and today’s grant to the nonprofit brings its total investment in IPM to DKK 125 million. IPM’s work is also made possible by generous support from the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs, Irish Aid, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the KfW Development Bank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, UK aid from the British people, the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

About IPM: IPM is a nonprofit organization that developed the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring, and is dedicated to developing other new HIV prevention tools and sexual and reproductive health technologies for women, and making them available in developing countries. Our partnerships with public, private and civil society bring scientific ingenuity, political will and financial resources to bear on developing and delivering products designed to have significant public health impact. IPM has offices in the United States, South Africa and Belgium. Visit us at www.IPMglobal.org. 

Contact:

IPM Global: Holly Seltzer, hseltzer@IPMglobal.org, +1.301.608.4277

IPM Africa: Leonard Solai, lsolai@IPMglobal.org, +27.84.660.6776