Stop testing anti-AIDS gel

The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked to stop initial trials of new drugs designed to help women prevent AIDS viruses. The reason, according to WHO, is that this drug does not help women but also makes them more susceptible to infection.

These gel-type tests have been conducted in more than 1,300 women in South Africa, Benin, Uganda and India. WHO and the UN AIDS Agency (UNAIDS) said it is not clear why this product does not work.

African women are susceptible to HIV because they cannot convince men to use condoms when having sex (Photo: AFP)

A similar trial in Nigeria has also been discontinued, but trials of three other microbicides are still ongoing.

The anti-AIDS gel mentioned above is extracted from marine algae and is produced by Canadian company Polydex Pharmaceuticals, which is thought to release an ingredient that helps kill the HIV virus, avoiding the virus that is transmitted to women through sex. Scientists hope these microbicides may play an important role in the fight against AIDS, especially in Africa.

'This is a disappointing news and an unexpected failure in the search for safe and effective microbicides that can be used by women to protect them from HIV infection', WHO and UNAIDS said. in a joint statement.

About 30 women have been infected with HIV since the trial began in 2005, AFP news agency cited sources from the study coordinator, Tim Farley.

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