Worldwide, there are about 5 million new infections and 3 million deaths per year due to
 HIV/AIDS. If proven successful in future clinical trials, the new device could empower women
 to effectively and conveniently protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and sexually
 transmitted infection. The ring may also someday represent a novel method to prevent STIs for
 those with aversion to currently available methods, with hormonally derived active agents, or
 with allergies to latex condoms.

 "This device is a new approach to birth control, because it avoids the long-term use of
 hormonal methods that have been associated with increased risk of certain cancers," says Dr.
 Brij Saxena, lead author and the Harold and Percy Uris Professor of Reproductive Biology and
 professor of endocrinology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell
 Medical College. "At the same time, this is the first device to simultaneously offer the possibility
 to  prevent unintended pregnancy and HIV transmission."

 "No one has ever conquered a viral epidemic with treatment, so prevention is the most effective
 option. Ideally, an HIV vaccine is the most desirable method, but  that is not foreseeable in the
 near future," explains Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, co-author of the study and attending physician at
 NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "The next best thing would be
 something that would prevent infection and put the power in the susceptible female partner's
 control. That's the potential a device such as this can offer."

 The vaginally inserted ring is incorporated with multiple antiviral drugs that prevent HIV
 infection and are time-released over a period up to 28 days. The compounds tested were a
 newly developed anti-HIV agent, Boc-lysinated betulonic acid, TMC120 (dapivirine), PMPA,
 and 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT or zidovudine), which, when combined, were found to
 block infection in human cells exposed to the virus in a laboratory setting.

 "The combination of these antiviral drugs has proven to be potent agents that may block
 infection by the HIV virus," says Dr. Saxena.

 The ring is also incorporated with compounds that prevent conception by arresting sperm
 motility, raising vaginal mucous viscosity, and sustaining the acidity of the vagina in which sperm
 do not survive. Traditionally, similar devices have used hormonal compounds that have been
 linked to increased risk of breast and cervical cancers, or spermicidal compounds that kill
 sperm, but may lead to irritation and inflammation. Past findings published in the journal
 Contraception found the device to be highly effective in animal models and in laboratory testing.

 "The compounds in the device are natural materials that are already approved by the U.S.
 Food and Drug Administration for use in humans," explains Dr. Saxena.

 The study was supported by grants by the National Institutes of Health, International
 Partnership for Microbicides and BioRing LLC.

 Collaborators on this study include Dr. Young A. Han and Dr. Mukul Singh from Weill Cornell
 Medical College, Dr. Dingyi Fu and Dr. Premila Rathnam formerly of Weill Cornell, and
 Sidney Lerner from BioRings LLC.

 Drs. Saxena and Singh are vice presidents at BioRings LLC and along with Mr. Lerner,
 president of BioRings LLC, are co- inventors and owners of U.S. and foreign patents on the
 technology used in this research. Cornell Research Foundation (CRF) owns pending patent
 applications related to the research.

  Courtesy of http://www.sciencedaily.com