Testing on Monkeys has provided a gel used in AIDS

SO.... Does this mean that they infected each one of these monkeys with the virus first? How horrible!!!!!

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US researchers this week said the gel used an Aids drug along with a zinc compound and protected all animals tested from infection with the monkey version of HIV.

The results were published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.

It "afforded full protection (21 of 21 animals) for up to 24 hours after two weeks of daily application," the researchers write. The gel uses a small amount of active drug and is both safe and cheap, said the Population Council in New York, which led the study.

The study joins a growing body of experiments that are beginning to show progress in preventing the spread of Aids.

Melissa Robbiani of the Population Council, who worked with the US's National Cancer Institute and other laboratories to test the gel, said the intention was to now start tests on people.

In July last year, researchers found that a similar gel, using the Aids drug tenofovir, reduced HIV infections in women by 39% over 30 months.

Nonprofit groups are also moving ahead to develop the gel, with the US Food and Drug Administration also wanting to fast-track its roll-out.

"It is like a positive domino effect," said Bethany Young Holt, director of the Coalition Advancing Multipurpose Innovations, a US women's health research and advocacy group and an expert on microbicides, gels, creams and other products that protect against infection.
Most infections with the Aids virus are in Africa and most new cases are among women infected during sex with men.

A microbicide could help protect against HIV while allowing a woman to get pregnant, and, if necessary, she could use the product without even letting her partner know.

"Just the idea of having a product that a woman could use to address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease as well, that would be an enormous benefit to women," Holt said.

The product does not prevent pregnancy but researchers are working on a combined gel or a vaginal ring that will include a contraceptive.

The drug used in the Population Council product, MIV-150, was developed by Swedish company Medivir.

Like other HIV drugs, it blocks the virus from reproducing. MIV-150 specifically stops infected cells from spewing out new viruses.

MIV-150 is not available as a pill. The Population Council said this was an advantage because it would not reduce a woman's options for treatment later if she did become infected.
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