Global Policy Forum

By Michael Barbaro

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $60 million yesterday toward the development of experimental creams, often referred to as invisible condoms, designed to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus among women in developing countries. The donation to the International Partnership for Microbicides, based in Silver Spring, is a strong endorsement of the budding field of microbicides, which doctors say puts AIDS prevention directly in the hands of women. Microbicides, which have been under development since the late 1980s, are gels, films, foams and sponges applied topically to the vagina to block the AIDS-causing virus HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

"There are only a few ways to protect yourself from HIV -- abstention, a mutually faithful relationship or use of condoms," said Helene D. Gayle, the foundation's director of HIV, TB and reproductive health. For many women in the developing world, she said, none of the three "are necessarily under their control."

The grant will be used to finance public and private development of microbicides, a market IPM said is largely ignored by pharmaceutical companies. Zeda Rosenberg, IPM's chief executive, said that although years of testing remain before a microbicide will be ready for widespread use, a product could be on the market by the end of the decade. Researchers are conducting advanced-stage human tests on six experimental microbicides, she said.

IPM, created in March 2002 with a $15 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, said it would use the money to create a fund, operating much like a venture capital firm, to encourage private drug developers and nonprofits to invest in product development. So far, it has also secured funding from the World Bank, the United Nations Population Fund and the governments of at least three countries -- Norway, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Rosenberg said IPM would require part ownership of any commercial product to ensure affordable distribution to the developing world.

"The microbicide field has not had the support it needs," said Gayle, citing an uncertain market for drug companies used to marketing expensive products to the developed world. The grant, she said, "allows us to pursue a more coordinated effort."

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