International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has selected three leading Indian institutes to be part of the prestigious global network, undertaking two separate path-breaking projects to develop and test microbicides to combat HIV. | |
| The institutes- National AIDS Research Institute (NARI, Pune), St John's Medical college (SJMC, Bangalore) and YRG Care (Chennai)- will be part of the network in the projects to develop and test microbicides, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative sources said here today. |
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| While National AIDS Research Institute joins an institute in Bronx (US) to conduct Phase-II trials of FDA approved oral and anti-HIV drug Tenofovir to be applied as a vaginal microbicidal gel, SJMC and YRG are conducting random Phase-III trial to see the effect of six per cent cellulose sulphate on vaginal HIV transmission, the sources said. |
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| All the three institutes have been given green signal by health ministry's screening committee. |
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| Microbicides are active compounds being developed by scientists that can be applied inside the vagina or rectum to protect against HIV. |
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| Currently, over 60 candidate microbicides are in the pipeline but none of them are still available for public use. |
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