BME Assistant Professor Rahima Benhabbour and her lab have received a $3.74 million grant over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In collaboration with three researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)- Dr Gerardo Garcia-Lerma, Dr Ivana Massud, and Dr Charles Dobard, the grant will fund the creation of an injectable that will provide long-acting protection for women against sexually transmitted pathogens and prevent pregnancy.
Their new, ultra-long-acting In-Situ Forming Implant (ISFI) drug delivery system will address the limitations of current LA injectable formulations: simple to prepare, biodegradable, incorporating an antiretroviral and a contraceptive drug with an initial targeting of more than six months of sustained release, which can be removed to terminate the treatment regimen if required. To read the full article, you can visit the UNC Healthcare website here.