Seaweed as Microbicide: Clinical trials begins.

[Guest guest]

A red seaweed used as a thickening agent in ice cream,

toothpaste and baby formula may be the next great hope for

millions of poor women seeking to protect themselves against HIV.

Human clinical trials of Carraguard, a gel made from seaweed that

grows along the coasts of Novia Scotia, are scheduled to begin in

South Africa and Botswana later this year. The gel was developed

by the nonprofit Population Council. The Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation plans to announce this weekend a multimillion-dollar

grant to help fund the studies, which will involve 6,000 women.

The trials will test a promising theory: that women who use

Carraguard up to an hour before intercourse can block HIV and

possibly prevent other STDs. " This would allow women to take

prevention into their own hands, " says Dr. Helene Gayle, the

former chief of AIDS prevention at the CDC and a senior advisor

on HIV/AIDS at the Gates Foundation. " It is very difficult for

women in the world to negotiate safe sex and insist on their

partner using condoms. And the reason HIV is spreading is not

primarily because of women's risky behavior. It's due to risky

behavior by their male partners. "

In the 1990s, Dr. , a senior scientist at the

Population Council's Center for Biomedical Research, found that

carageenan, a seaweed-derived compound that contains large

negatively charged molecules, isn't absorbed in the body.

Researchers still aren't sure exactly how the process works.

However, it is believed that carageenan binds to the virus or to

target cells, coating them much like a layer of thick paint.

In earlier animal trials, Carraguard was found to be

effective in blocking sexually transmitted viruses such as herpes

simplex virus type 2 and human papillomavirus, as well as the

bacterial infection gonorrhea, said. Janneke va de

Wigjert, the Population Council's principal investigator on the

trials, said the next round of studies, which are expected to

cost $50 million and will require U.S. Food and Drug

Administration approval, will follow HIV-negative women for two

years. At least three other microbicide products are going into

trials this year, according to Henry Gabelnick, director of the

Global Microbicide Project.

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" Trials Will Test if Seaweed Gel Can Block HIV "

Wall Street Journal (01.31.02):: Zimmerman

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Dr.Rajesh Buddhadev. MD

buddhadev@...

NISARG AIDS CARE CENTRE

Surat-395009, Gujarat

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