UNAIDS Calls for Continued Commitment to Microbicides

The main objective of the study was to determine whether there was a statistically significant
difference in the incidence of HIV infection between the two groups of women.
Nonoxynol-9 is a spermicidal agent used in contraceptive spermicide products and as a
complementary component in the lubricant of barrier methods of contraception, such as the male
condorn
Microbicides are chemical substances - in the form of gel, cream, suppository or film- which kill
viruses and bacteria when applied vaginally or rectally before sexual intercourse. The large-scale
efficacy trial, known as a Phase III trial, was sponsored jointly by UNAIDS and US-based
Columbia Laboratories. It was initially funded by the World Health Organization's Global
Programme on AIDS in 1995, and by UNAIDS from 1996.
Note to Editors:
* The Trial Coordinator was Dr Lut Van Damme of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp,
Belgium.
* he trial sites were: Abidjan (C6te d'lvoire), Cotonou (Benin), Durban and Johannesburg (South
Africa), Hat Yai and Bangkok (Thailand).
* Principal Investigators were:
* Abidjan - Dr Virginie Traord
* Bangkok - Dr Pachara Sirivongrangson
* Cotonou Dr Michel Alary
* Hat Yai,- Dr Verapol Chandeying
* Durban- Dr S Salim Abdool Karim
* Johannesburg -Dr Helen Rees
* The data centre was Centre Hospitaller Affilie de Quebec, Pavilion Saint-Sacrement, Quebec
City, Canada. Study Statistician: Dr Benoit Masse
For more information, please contact Anne Winter, UNAIDS, Media Center, Durban, (+27 31)
332.2031, mobiles (+41 79) 213.4312 and (+27 82) 858.0691, Mark Aurigemma, UNAIDS,
Durban, (+27 82) 858.0720, Dominique de Santis, UNAIDS, Geneva, (+41 22) 791.4509 or Emily
Krasnor, UNAIDS, New York, (+1 212) 584.5024. You may also visit the UNAIDS Home Page on
the Internet for more information about the programme (http://www.unaids.org).