Eastern Virginia Medical School's Biggest Grant Goes Toward Fighting AIDS

The US Agency for International Development gave a $60 million grant to the Eastern Virginia Medical School's program called CONRAD (formerly known as Contraceptive Research and Development) in order to develop contraceptives and products to fight AIDS. The federal agency gave CONRAD $30 million in 1998 for five years and now has increased that to $90 million through 2008, CONRAD Director Henry Gabelnick said Thursday. Nearly 60 percent of the money will go toward fighting HIV, said Gabelnick. CONRAD scientists are working to develop microbicides that women could use in gel form in order to kill or inactivate STDs. Gabelnick's team so far has found two chemicals -- cellulose sulfate and polystyrene sulfonate -- that seem to prevent HIV and other pathogens from entering the bloodstream and causing infection. CONRAD researchers also will use the money to study birth control methods such as male contraceptive injections, female condoms and diaphragms.

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