Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Wall Street Journal - November 1, 2005
Marilyn Chase, marilyn.chase@wsj.com
The licenses grant IPM rights to distribute three Merck compounds and one Bristol-Myers Squibb compound in developing countries. The drugs belong to the family of entry-inhibitor compounds that block HIV from invading human cells.
Microbicides are experimental AIDS drugs formulated as vaginal creams or gels applied topically or released by a suppository or other device. IPM of Silver Spring, Md., is a nonprofit group funded by governments, foundations and the World Bank.
With an AIDS vaccine believed to be at least a decade away, microbicides are drawing interest as a prevention tool for women at risk whose partners refuse to use condoms. IPM has forecast that a microbicide could be available in five to seven years.
Such products could potentially prevent the infection of 2.5 million people over three years, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have estimated.
Separately, researchers at Cornell and Tulane universities said in this week's issue of the journal Nature that such Merck and Bristol-Myers microbicides protected 40 out of 51 monkeys from infection by a monkey AIDS virus. The studies were supported by grants from the U.S.'s National Institutes of Health and Bristol-Myers.
IPM is sponsoring human-safety studies of another microbicide licensed from Johnson & Johnson's Tibotec unit. In addition, IPM said, others are testing about five additional microbicides in human-efficacy studies.
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