Astroglide Personal Lubricant Destroys HIV in Preliminary Tests

LOS ANGELES (April 20, 2000) — On Monday April 17th, 2000 Dr. Samuel Baron, M.D. presented research demonstrating that Astroglide Personal Lubricant destroyed HIV on contact in test tubes. Astroglide does not contain Nonoxynol-9, a spermicide commonly used in personal lubricants to help prevent the transmission of STD's, including HIV.

Dr. Baron is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology of Internal Medicine, at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. His announcement was made during presentation of his study at the 13th International Conference on Anti-Viral Research, in Baltimore Maryland. Dr. Baron is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology of Internal Medicine, at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. His announcement was made during presentation of his study at the 13th International Conference on Anti-Viral Research, in Baltimore Maryland.

While condoms are still the most recommended and reliable method of preventing sexually transmitted diseases, the addition of Astroglide may help decrease the transmission of HIV infection as well. Astroglide has been Condomania's most popular personal lubricant since 1991, both throughout Condomania's retail stores and web site, Condomania.com.

In 1999, Dr. Baron and colleagues began research to understand why HIV is rarely transmitted via oral contact (kissing, dental treatments, biting, etc.), even when blood or exudate is present. It was already known that very little free virus is present in the semen and other fluids of HIV carriers; the actual transmitting agent is more likely the HIV infected leukocyte. Saliva of infected individuals usually contains only noninfectious components of HIV, indicating some element was breaking down the virus. Dr. Baron's research, performed in vitro, (in test tubes rather than human participants), revealed that saliva's natural hypotonicity (low salt) rapidly disrupted 90% or more of the HIV- infected blood mononuclear leukocytes, with 10,000 fold or greater inhibition of the multiplication of the HIV surrogate viruses.

"Infected leukocytes are fragile" noted Dr. Baron. "When we found that saliva destroyed them, we began looking for other substances that would as effectively at the vulnerable vaginal and rectal sites. Ideally, we hoped to locate something familiar and easy to use, usable by women as well as men, safe, inexpensive, and readily available in the United States and Western markets. Because HIV is, in the majority of cases, sexually transmitted, we began our search for products used for sexual purposes that are sold over the counter. In this area, we studied preparations with the potential to prevent disease transmission by inactivating HIV infected white blood cells."

Dr. Baron, the makers of Astroglide and Condomania stress that although these findings are promising, additional clinical studies in humans are necessary to establish the effectiveness of Astroglide in stopping transmission of the HIV virus. Therefore, people should not rely on Astroglide to prevent transmission until human clinical trials are completed and the effectiveness of Astroglide to prevent HIV in people is known.

For further information please contact Adam Glickman at Condomania, 647 N. Poinsettia Place, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 933-7865