NIH gives $10 million grant for HIV microbicide research

The National Institutes of Health has given a five-year $10 million grant to Biosyn Inc., the University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, TherImmune Research Corp., the Southern Research Institute, and St. George's Hospital Medical School in London to continue jointly developing a microbicide to prevent HIV infection through vaginal or anal sex. Early research on the compound, called Cyanovirin-N, has shown that the microbicide is effective in preventing sexual transmission of the simian immunodeficiency virus in monkeys. The grant will be used for preclinical development and clinical trials to test the compound's safety and effectiveness in preventing HIV transmissions among humans.