Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.Gliead Sciences has granted intellectual property rights for tenofovir gel to the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) and Conrad as part of an international agreement to fight AIDS.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
The companies intend to develop, and distribute tenofovir to women in resource-limited countries to prevent infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
“It is through public-private partnerships and the combined expertise of organizations like Conrad and IPM that we will get an effective microbicide quickly to the women who urgently need this technology,” said Dr Henry Gabelnick, executive director of Conrad.
There are currently several microbicide candidates in clinical development designed to prevent HIV transmission and possibly other sexually transmitted infections. Tenofovir gel has previously been evaluated in a phase I study and phase II studies are being conducted through the National Institutes of Health’s HIV Prevention Trials Network.
Under the terms of the agreement, Gilead will provide to both IPM and Conrad a royalty-free license to develop and distribute tenofovir as a microbicide in approximately 100 resource-limited countries hit by the HIV epidemic. Gilead will also facilitate the manufacturing of tenofovir by third-party contract manufacturers to supply ongoing clinical studies for two years.
The 17.7 million women living with HIV/AIDS in 2006 represent an increase of over one million compared with 2004, according to the UN, making the need for female-initiated prevention tools especially urgent.