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IPM is a non-profit product development partnership (PDP) established in 2002 to prevent HIV transmission by accelerating the development and availability of a safe and effective microbicide for use by women in developing countries.
IPM is committed to providing women with an affordable and self-initiated HIV- prevention strategy to reduce the cycle of infection which has led to the deaths of more than 25 million people worldwide and orphaned more than 15 million children since 1981. Like the promise of a future AIDS vaccine, microbicides represent an essential component of an integrated and comprehensive global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
IPM promotes the rapid development and delivery of a safe and effective microbicide product by pioneering a “best-practices” approach to:
- screen compounds and design optimal formulations;
- develop clinical trial sites and conduct clinical trials;
- identify appropriate regulatory pathways for microbicide products;
- establish manufacturing and distribution capacity to ensure rapid access to a microbicide as soon as it becomes available.
IPM also funds, co-funds or leverages resources to support the drug development projects of other entities. In some cases, however, the most efficient approach is for IPM, itself, to take the lead in developing, testing and conducting clinical trials of promising microbicide compounds.
As a PDP, IPM establishes collaborations that lead to fast-tracked development of highly promising HIV-prevention drugs for use as microbicides. IPM’s partners include widely respected academic institutions, major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and leading non-governmental and international organizations.
By synchronizing the microbicide development efforts of entities across the public and private sectors, IPM is able to harness the power of scientific ingenuity and integrity to achieve its mission – the delivery of a safe and effective microbicide product to women in developing countries in urgent need of HIV-prevention options. |
