UW Bioengineering Assistant Professor Dr. Kim Woodrow’s recent research on electrospun materials containing anti-HIV medication, published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, was featured in an August 11 Huffington Post article.
The article explores the potential of this new material to be integrated into a dissolvable “tampon”-like product. Such a product could be easy for women to use immediately before sex and would deliver an effective drug dose quickly. “We envision a product that could dissolve, pretty much instantaneously,” explained the research paper’s lead author and doctoral student in the Woodrow lab, Cameron Ball.
The electrospun material offers numerous advantages over other anti-HIV preventative measures currently in development, and could possibly deliver drugs to prevent other sexually transmitted infections or pregnancy. It may be years before the material enters clinical trials, and then many more before it is available to the public. However, one day “these types of things might be seen on the shelf of a local Walgreens or CVS,” Ball said.