A Setback for the World's Women

Researchers working to develop a new HIV prevention tool for the world's women had their hopes shattered when data from a final Phase III human trial of the vaginal microbicide gel Carraguard showed it failed to prevent HIV infections among the more than 6,200 women studied. HIV incidence was only slightly lower among the women using the gel than among those given a placebo. And women used the compound less than half the time they had sex, a rate far lower than expected. 'Even a highly efficacious coitally dependent product will have insufficient effectiveness in real-life settings,' the researchers disappointedly wrote in The Lancet.