Indevus Pharmaceuticals Announces PRO 2000 Found to Show Promise in Large HIV Preven...( Results of NIH-sponsored Clinical Tri...),Health

Results of NIH-sponsored Clinical Trial to be Presented at Retrovirus Conference

LEXINGTON, Mass., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Indevus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDEV) announced today that a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored clinical study found that participating women who received PRO 2000, the Company's candidate vaginal microbicide for HIV prevention, had an approximately 30% lower risk of acquiring HIV infection than women who received a placebo or no vaginal product. All women participating in the study were offered free condoms and safer-sex counseling. This is the first trial to suggest any microbicide may prevent male-to-female sexual transmission of HIV although the beneficial effect did not reach statistical significance. The results will be presented today at the 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Montreal.

"We are extremely excited with the results of this trial," stated Glenn L. Cooper, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Indevus. "Though not conclusive, these results provide encouragement that PRO 2000 may offer a female-controlled method that can be used to protect against the sexual transmission of HIV.

"In addition to the HPTN 035 trial, we are awaiting results from the MRC-sponsored trial which will provide data on nearly 10,000 women," continued Dr. Cooper. "These results should be available by the end of 2009."

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 035 trial was a multi-national, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to assess the safety and effectiveness of PRO 2000 and another investigational vaginal microbicide (BufferGel(R), ReProtect, Inc.) in preventing HIV infection in women. The trial was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the NIH, and conduct
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