Study Defines Effective Microbicide Design for HIV/AIDS Prevention
Microbicide development is interesting for many many reasons (novel therapeutic, targeting women, development is via public-private partnerships, etc.). We would definitely like to post more about Microbocides considering their importance and potential revolutionary power. Here is a start:
September 29, 2006
Duke University biomedical engineers have developed a computer tool they say could lead to improvements in topical microbicides being developed for women to use to prevent infection by the virus that causes AIDS. By applying fundamentals of physics and chemistry, the researchers developed a computer model that can predict the effectiveness of various microbicidal recipes in destroying human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) before it reaches vulnerable body tissues.
The HIV pandemic continues to overwhelm current preventative measures as an estimated 12,000 people contract the infection each day, the researchers said. Increasingly, a disproportionate number of women are becoming infected…
“In many cases, women lack control over their abilities to protect themselves against the virus,” Katz said. “Microbicide development is a response to the demonstrated need for new female-controlled methods for HIV prophylaxis.”