When used properly and consistently, a vaginal ring emitting an
experimental drug reduced HIV prevalence
significantly among women, according to a clinical trial in four sub-Saharan
African countries.
Researchers from the
National Institutes of Health found the ring, which contains the antiretroviral
drug dapivirine, was most effective at preventing spread of the disease among
women older than 25 in a trial in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Overall, the ring was
effective barely more than a quarter of the time because of improper use or
women who did not use it. The spread of HIV was reduced significantly when used
properly, though.
More than 25 million people
in sub-Saharan Africa have HIV or AIDS, with 9 out of 10 children in world who
have one of the diseases living there, according
to the World Health Organization.
Researchers said the
dapivirine vaginal ring could have more success at controlling the spread of
HIV because women can fully control its use, unlike condoms, with which men can
interfere. The $5 silicone ring can be worn for a month, does not need to be refrigerated
and can sit on a shelf for five years.
"I remember really
vividly talking with some of the participants in Zimbabwe partway through the
study, and they would say, 'This ring is mine,'" Dr. Jared Baeten, a
researcher at the University of Washington, told the New York Times.
"There was ownership of the ring because she could control
it."
For the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine,
researchers in the ASPIRE study enrolled 2,629 women at 15 health clinics in
Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe between the ages of 18 and 45 who
were at high risk for HIV infection, giving them either the dapivirine ring or
a placebo. All women in the trial also received counselling on HIV risk
reduction, advice on treating sexually transmitted infections, and free
condoms.
There were a total of 71
HIV infections in the dapivirine group and 97 in the placebo group -- a 27
percent reduction in spread of the disease. When researchers did not count
results from two sites with lower numbers of patients continuing to participate
or following instructions, the infection rate among women using the ring was 37
percent lower than the placebo group.
The researchers found women
older than 25 had a 61 percent lower risk of HIV infection, because younger
women used the ring less consistently, based on lower levels of the drug found
in blood tests. The ring reduced risk for infection by 56 percent, as well, but
provided little protection for women between the ages of 18 and 21.
In addition to conducting
ASPIRE in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, the International
Partnership for Microbicides also found in The Ring Study that the dapivirine
ring decreased HIV infection by 31 percent over a placebo.
More research is needed to
find the combination of factors -- behavior, biology, or both -- that made the
ring so much less effective in younger women, the researchers said.
"Women need a
discreet, long-acting form of HIV prevention that they control and want to
use," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, said in a press release.
"This study found that a
vaginal ring containing a sustained-release antiretroviral drug confers partial
protection against HIV among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Further research is
needed to understand the age-related disparities in the observed level of
protection."