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May 2003 Carraguard™ Update: New Trial, New Staff The Population Council is gearing up for the next phase of the clinical trials of its lead candidate microbicide, Carraguard. Designed to evaluate the product’s effectiveness in preventing the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, the four-year investigation will be conducted in three southern African locations and involve at least 6,000 women. Microbicides have great potential as a valuable tool in the battle against the AIDS epidemic. A vaginal microbicide gel would provide the user with protection from disease for which she would not necessarily need her partner’s cooperation. The Council has hired two accomplished researchers to manage the trials: Pekka Lähteenmäki will oversee the clinical testing of Carraguard. He comes to the Council from the pharmaceutical company Leiras Oy, where he was vice president of research and development, specializing in the technology of contraceptive delivery. He holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in reproductive physiology and has written or co-authored more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Lähteenmäki has a long-time relationship with the Council, including service as a consulting scientist for eight years. Stephanie Skoler will be responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the trials. For the past two years she has managed a nine-site international case–control study, WECARE, for Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. She holds an M.P.H. in epidemiology and a certificate in “Economics and Financing of Health Care in Developing Countries” from Boston University. “Worldwide, women are now being infected with HIV at a higher rate than men,” said Elof Johansson, a Population Council vice president and director of its Center for Biomedical Research,“ and Carraguard has the potential to save a great many lives. Lähteenmäki and Skoler bring to this vital research project first-rate credentials in science and in management.” For more information about the Population Council’s microbicide program, please see the September 2002 issue of Momentum. See Also
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