Avac Event

After FACTS: What’s next for HIV prevention in women?

This webinar featured Helen Rees, principal investigator of the FACTS 001 microbicide trial of vaginal 1% tenofovir gel, and Jared Baeten, co-chair of Partners PrEP.

FACTS 001, which released data at CROI, found no evidence of protection overall associated with the vaginal gel. Partners Demonstration Project, which reported data at the same meeting, found that serodiscordant couples using oral PrEP and/or ART had very low levels of HIV transmission. We discussed what these and other data meant for women, including young and adolescent girls.

Download slides and audio from the webinar.

In advance of the webinar, we suggested the following talks from CROI and excerpts from AVAC Report 2014/15 as background:

Avac Event

2015 Update on the Rectal Microbicide Pipeline: New Agents, New Formulations

The field has spent several intense years studying tenofovir gel as a rectal microbicide, and we all look forward to the results (due early 2016) of the world’s first Phase II rectal microbicide trial MTN 017 which tested a reduced glycerin formulation of tenofovir gel.

But there is a lot more going on than tenofovir gel!

In this webinar, hosted by IRMA and AVAC, we looked at new rectal agents in development, including the antiretroviral drug Dapivirine and Griffithsin, a potent, anti-HIV protein derived from red algae. We also discussed plans for developing new microbicide formulations like rectal douches.

Avac Event

Exploring the Pipeline: Lubes, Rings, Films, Fibers, and Shots 4 HIV Prevention

AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Jim Pickett and Jessica Terlikowski, presented Project Ready, Set, PrEP Plus (RSP+), a webinar on the research and development pipeline of new HIV prevention tools. New forms of PrEP were discussed – from lubricants and gels to injections, films, fibers, rectal douches and rings.

Avac Event

EATG Webinar 3: Microbicides and Vaccines

This series of three webinars, hosted jointly by EATG and AVAC, was designed to prepare and update EATG members for a special meeting on new developments in prevention that took place from January 23-25 in Brussels.

Avac Event

MTN 2015 Annual Meeting

The MTN 2015 Annual Meeting was held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center; 5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda, MD 20852. The meeting dates were from March 13, 2015 through March 18, 2015. 

Avac Event

MTN-017: Evolution and Implementation

IRMA, AVAC and the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) provided an update on the Phase II safety and acceptability study MTN 017 (now closed to accrual) and looked at potential future directions for rectal microbicide research. MTN’s Dr. Ross Cranston, Protocol Chair for MTN-017, walked participants through the evolution and implementation of 017 – the world’s first-ever Phase II rectal microbicide trial. Next, Dr. Ian McGowan, Co-Principal Investigator of the MTN discussed ideas and directions for what the rectal future may hold in terms of advanced stage trial design and planning.

Avac Event

Women and HIV Prevention Research: Designing, testing and marketing products to improve adherence

The fourth webinar in AVAC’s Research & Reality series, a year-long dialogue about prevention research and advocacy, this call provided a forum to learn about and discuss key issues around women and the HIV prevention agenda, including challenges around marketing of and adherence to new prevention options.

View the full webinar here.

Avac Event

Are Rectal Douches Ripe for Further Rectal Microbicide Exploration?

Rectal douching is a relatively common behavior across the world. So, should we be thinking seriously about developing a rectal microbicide as a douche? What do we know about rectal douching behavior globally? What are some of the most popular products used and by whom? What are the implications for rectal microbicide research and development? What are the gaps in rectal douche science?

Presenters Marjan Javanbakht and Jerome Galea engaged our participants on each of these questions and discussed recent research.

Avac Event

From the Booty’s Point of View: Using perceptibility data to inform rectal microbicide development

Rectal microbicide development has made strides in recent years, but, as with vaginal microbicides, adherence remains a concern for product developers.

There are two “P” words we have always loved – pleasure and prevention.

Perceptibility is a new strategy for evaluating what products feel like and how they “behave” in the body (in the booty as well!), during insertion, everyday activities, and, of course, during sex. The hope is that, by understanding how product characteristics impact how they are felt and understood by potential users, we can better design products for pleasure and prevention.

In this presention, Kate Morrow explained the third “P” word, perceptibility. She told us why it is so crucial to both pleasure and HIV prevention, how the perceptibility process works, and how it helps create rectal microbicide products that people actually want to use.

View the full webinar here.

Avac Event

VOICE – What are the implications for rectal microbicide research?

Jeanne Marrazzo (VOICE protocol co-chair) and Ian McGowan (co-principal investigator of the Microbicide Trials Network) discussed the VOICE results and what they mean for the rectal microbicide field moving forward. This call was presented through a collaboration between IRMA and AVAC.