As the world awaits for the first woman controlled method for HIV prevention – Dapivirine ring, ICWEA held a meeting on September 26th, to update advocates about the progress in implementation of Phase 111 of Dapivirine ring trials and to strategize on how to engage with policy makers on the detailed policy on the ring.
Dapivirine is a flexible silicone ring that provides sustained-release of the ARV drug dapivirine locally to the site of potential infection during vaginal sex with minimal absorption elsewhere in the body.
Women insert the ring themselves and replace it every month. The monthly ring is the first long-acting HIV prevention method designed for women, who bear the greatest burden of HIV/AIDS epidemic
The monthly dapivirine ring is the first to adapt a medical technology commonly used to deliver hormones to women — the vaginal ring — to instead deliver an ARV drug to prevent HIV.
Status of Dapivirine ring: The Ring Study led by the nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) enrolled 1,959 HIV-negative women aged 18-45 at seven sites in South Africa and Uganda.
ASPIRE led by the US National Institutes of Health-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) enrolled 2,629 HIV-negative women ages 18-45 at 15 sites in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The Ring Study, led by IPM, showed that the monthly dapivirine ring safely reduced HIV infection overall by 31 percent. Similar results were seen in ASPIRE, which found that the ring safely reduced infection by 27 percent overall
ASPIRE showed that the ring reduced HIV risk by 61 percent in women older than age 25, who also appeared to use the ring more consistently. The ring is currently going through approvals by various institutions before it is released to the market.
During the meeting, advocates were concerned that the new prevention guidelines in Uganda simply mentioned Dapivirine ring and did not give detailed guidelines. They therefore laid a plan on how they would like to engage different stakeholders to ensure that the ring has guidelines and resources provided.
