For Immediate Release
Contact: Annette Larkin, 703-772-6427
November
30, 2007
annettelarkin@rationalpr.com
conrad RECEIVES
$28.5 million GATES FOUNDATION GRANT for hiv prevention research
Grant
to be used for continued microbicide research and development
Arlington, VA (November 30, 2007) – The CONRAD Program of
the Eastern Virginia Medical School today announced that it has received a
$28.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop
microbicides for HIV prevention. To
date, the Gates Foundation has awarded a total of $65 million to CONRAD for
microbicide research.
The award will
support the development of new combination microbicides, research on novel and
improved in vitro and small-animal models to test microbicide safety and
efficacy, validation of clinical biomarkers and testing of the new microbicide
candidates for clinical safety.
“Despite setbacks in
the HIV prevention field over the past year, the global effort to develop
effective new prevention tools, including microbicides, must go on,” said Henry
Gabelnick, Executive Director of CONRAD.
“We are grateful for the continued support of the Gates Foundation, and
we are inspired by its commitment to making real progress in global health.”
Microbicides are
topical substances used intravaginally to potentially prevent HIV
infection. Effective microbicides could
be an important HIV prevention option for women, who account for approximately half
of all people living with HIV globally.
CONRAD has served
as a resource for the microbicide field for the past twenty years, and in that
capacity, has provided
support for preclinical, early clinical research and Phase III clinical trials for
several microbicide candidates, many of which were funded by the Gates
Foundation and/or USAID. New microbicide
candidates CONRAD is currently researching contain several ingredients with
different types of activity against HIV.
Dr. Gabelnick continued, “Due to the multiple pathways involved in
mucosal infection and the number of new infections attributable to viruses that
contain drug resistance-associated mutations, development of a combination
microbicide is likely to be important to achieve successful prevention of
sexual transmission of HIV.”
“The microbicide field
has accumulated a wealth of experience and understanding that is critical for
accelerating progress toward an effective microbicide,” said Dr. Gustavo Doncel,
Director of Preclinical Research at CONRAD.
“The contributions of the Gates Foundation have created a synergy within
the microbicide field that we hope will result in the development of a tool
that will be a major advance in the fight against HIV.”
Even if the first
microbicide that is approved is not 100% effective, modeling studies suggest that
it could still have a major impact on public health, provided it is used in
combination with other HIV prevention methods.
CONRAD is a
cooperating agency of USAID committed to improving reproductive health by
expanding the contraceptive choices of women and men and by helping to prevent
the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. CONRAD is a Division of the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in