Results from a large international clinical trial on an HIV preventative gel, PRO 2000, show no evidence that it decreases the risk of HIV infection in women.

This has been a disappointing finding for researchers and has likely brought an end to further research in this particular product.

PR0 2000 is a vaginal microbicide, which is a substance whose purpose is to reduce the infectivity of viruses. As of now, there are no microbicides that have been effective against HIV infection.

PRO 2000 is designed to be used by women before sexual intercourse, because it was previously believed to reduce the risk of contracting the HIV infection.

Researchers placed high expectations on this product, in hopes that it would provide a safe preventive option for women and help to decrease the amount of infections in Africa.

The placebo-controlled trial involved 9,835 women from four different African countries. This trial was a conducted on a larger scale, in order to check the validity of positive results from a previous smaller clinical trial conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“This result is disheartening, particularly in light of the results of the smaller trial,” stated the study’s chief investigator, Dr. Sheena McCormack of the Medical Research Council, in a press release.

“Nevertheless, we know that this is an important result and it clearly shows the need to undertake trials which are large enough to provide definitive evidence for whether a product works.”

With these findings, other research on similar types of HIV preventive gel may also prove to be ineffective (see related AIDS Beacon news).

Clinical trials are also currently being conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of HIV preventive methods for women (see related AIDS Beacon news).

For more information, please see Microbicides Development Programme’s press release.