Newspaper Clipping Service

National Documentation Centre (NDC)

HIV

Vaginal gel may offer shield against AIDS virus (The Times of India:8 June 2010)

In a test on monkeys, a vaginal microbicide based on a new type of anti-HIV drug could offer significant
protection against infection with a virus similar to HIV, researchers have found.

The study is the first of a gel with an integrase inhibitor, one of the latest additions to the arsenal of drugs
for the treatment of HIV but just one of the many compounds or drug combinations that researchers are
hoping will be a stronghold for HIV prevention
.
The vaginal microbicide gel containing the drug L-870812, from antiretrovirals (ARVs), provided
significant protection in preventing vaginal transmission of simian/human immunodeficiency virus
(SHIV) — a combination of HIV and a related monkey virus — among macaques, reported harles
Dobard, and Walid Heneine, of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Integrase inhibitors, the latest weapon in the HIV treatment armamentarium, stop HIV from incorporating
its genetic information into the DNA of an infected T cell, heading off HIV’s master plan to hijack all
future generations of cells. ANI