[Press Kit, International Conference on AIDS (13th : 2000 : Durban, South Africa)]

Microbicides: Investing in New Hope
for Woman-Controlled HIV Prevention
HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a serious and costly epidemic.
* Globally, 2.3 million women--more than 6,300 a day--become infected with HIV each
year, mostly through heterosexual intercourse with their primary partner.
* STIs cause serious, costly, and even deadly conditions for women and their children,
such as: infertility, pregnancy complications, cervical cancer, infant mortality, and
higher risk of contracting HIV.
* Estimated annual costs of STIs and their complications in the U.S. range from $8.4
billion' in direct medical costs to nearly $20 billion2, including out-of-pocket costs and
lost productivity.
Microbicides are a promising new technology for STI and HIV prevention.
* Microbicides are user-controlled products that could kill or inactivate the bacteria and
viruses that cause STIs and HIV/AIDS.
* Microbicides could come in many forms, including gels, creams, suppositories, films, or
in the form of a sponge or vaginal ring, and would be applied intra-vaginally.
* Microbicides would fill a gap in the range of prevention tools because they are
woman-controlled and could protect against various STIs, not just HIV.
* There is wide-spread consensus that developing an effective microbicides is scientifically
feasible given sufficient investment and political will.
Because "Big Pharma" is not investing, governments and donors must take the lead in
funding microbicide research and development.
* As with other important prevention technologies such as vaccines, large
pharmaceutical companies are uninterested in microbicide research and
development. They cite concerns about liability and uncertain regulatory
environment, as well as the perceived lack of a sufficient market to make their
investment profitable.
* Close to 70 small biotechnology companies and university researchers are actively
engaged in microbicide research,3 but they rely on government and foundation
grants to continue their work and test their products.
1 American Social Health Association, December 1998. STDs in America: How Many Cases and at What Cost? Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation, 1998
2 Institute of Medicine. The Hidden Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Washington DC: National Academy Press, 1997.

3 Alliance for Microbicide Development 2000 Microbicides: Research and Development Status, February 2000.
Global Campaign for STI/HIV Prevention Alternatives for Women, Takoma Park, MD. July 2000. For info contact [email protected]