Review Article
Microbicides for the Treatment of Sexually Transmitted HIV Infections
Table 7
Outlook behind the disappointing microbicide strategy.
| Prerequisite of microbicide candidates | Probable mechanism | Reason for the failure |
| Candidates who require coating the vaginal epithelial lining uniformly. | Barrier for invasion and disruption of virus | Inability of the delivery system to provide an effective and durable microbicide fence along the epithelial lining. |
| Candidates who require retaining at the site to achieve appropriate concentration levels either in local tissues or blood. | Reverse transcriptase inhibitor, integrase inhibitor, and protease inhibitor | Insufficiency of delivery systems to provide sustained and controlled microbicide release. |
| Candidates who require targeting to a particular site | Entry inhibitors (targeting viral and host cell receptors). | Inability of delivery process to target active molecule to required site. |
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