The importance of choice and access in combating the HIV epidemic was the dominant theme of the 5th HIV Research For Prevention Conference of International AIDS Society (HIVR4P) in Lima, Peru. Many clinical studies presented at the conference showed promising results of new HIV prevention tools made especially for women and young girls, which in addition to being safe and effective, will also be acceptable and affordable.
Long acting dapivirine vaginal ring for HIV prevention
The 3-months dapivirine vaginal ring is identical to the 1-month dapivirine vaginal ring (by way of its shape and size) except that it contains 100mg of dapivirine instead of 25 mg.
Just to recap, the monthly ring (developed by International Partnership for Microbicides and acquired by Population Council two years back), is the world's first female-controlled, long-acting, non-systemic, microbicide product that substantially reduces the risk of getting infected with HIV. Thus, it is also referred to as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) ring.
The dapivirine vaginal ring is a flexible silicon ring that slowly releases the HIV prevention drug dapivirine into the target cells and substantially reduces the risk of her getting infected with HIV. Any HIV-negative woman, who is at risk of acquiring the infection, can herself put the ring in her vagina, leave it in place for 1-month and then replace it by herself.
The ring is available as an alternative for women who are unable to take daily oral PrEP tablets. It received positive opinion from European Medicines Agency and a pre-qualification by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has been approved for use in eleven African countries and is available in six of them (Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe) through implementation and pilot studies.
While research has shown that the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring is appealing to many women, a longer-lasting version will have a lower annual cost and may be more convenient to users.
3-months ring
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