Alleged HIV gel ineffectiveness 'baffles' inventor

Last year, the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in SA found the gel was 39% successful in preventing HIV infection.

The unfavourable results of the second study, arguing the gel developed by researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal could not save millions of lives, shocked scientists. Director of the Aids research centre Professor Salim Abdool Karim said he was "baffled" by the results of the new study: "This was totally unexpected because there was good evidence from laboratory research, animal studies and human trials, which showed that Tenofovir gel prevented Aids." Participants in the second study, aged between 18 and 30, used the gel 12 hours before intercourse and within 12 hours after intercourse.

Abdool Karim and his wife - widely lauded after the gel was presented at the International Aids Conference in Vienna last year - were expecting to have the gel in clinics next year, but the new findings sent them back to the drawing board, according to News24. Abdool Karim said it was not clear whether the new result was due to inadequate use of the gel by women participating in the study, insufficient drug levels in the women at the time of HIV exposure, or some other reason.

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