June 20, 2019
As an HIV tester and counselor during my university days and beyond, I learned very quickly that most people have more pressing issues to deal with in their lives than HIV prevention. At at Oberlin College, I often saw clients shortly after an unprotected sexual encounter. For most, condom use to protect against HIV and […]
May 28, 2019
This International Women’s Health Day, we at the IMPT remain committed to making impactful contributions in improving women’s health, rights, and lives. While much improvement has been realized in women’s lives since the first International Women’s Health Day was celebrated in 1987, there is still much more to be done. One powerful way to improve […]
April 24, 2019
When I was a college freshman, I was among the 45% of 15-29 year old students with a stated desire to work in healthcare. Like many of these young people, I didn’t initially realize that a career in health could be outside a hospital setting–but soon discovered another exciting and important avenue in public health. […]
March 26, 2019
The Initiative for MPTs (IMPT) is dedicated to advancing the comprehensive sexual and reproductive health of women and girls worldwide. The Secretariat staff, who manage this global learning network, comprise a group of women who have worked a combined eight decades in the women’s health and sexual and reproductive health fields. From working with underserved […]
February 14, 2019
Evofem Biosciences’ lead product candidate, Amphora® is an MPT – more specifically, a Multipurpose Vaginal pH Regulator (MVP-RTM) – that is being developed for the prevention of pregnancy and certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including chlamydia and gonorrhea. Amphora is a non-hormonal, acid-buffering vaginal gel designed to regulate a woman’s vaginal pH to within the […]
January 1, 2019
Happy New Year from the IMPT Secretariat! Recharged from the holiday season, we are proud to share a few major highlights from our 2018 work as IMPT learning network manager – fostering connections between multidisciplinary partners; collecting, synthesizing, and disseminating MPT-relevant information; and accelerating action to advance progress in the field. We spread the word […]
December 1, 2018
Every four minutes, three young women will become infected with HIV—that’s close to 900,000 new infections a year. While HIV prevention research and drug development have progressed rapidly, there is still work to be done. This World AIDS Day, we reflect on our work to advance MPTs by asking the IMPT Advisory Council for their […]
November 20, 2018
Earlier this year, we wrote a post about Target Product Profiles (TPPs) and the generalized versions that the IMPT developed in 2015 for two MPT product types. As we argue in that post, a product that meets all clinical targets listed in a TPP will not necessarily correlate to its public health impact in the […]
November 5, 2018
We at Yaso Therapeutics are developing a vaginal gel, called Yaso-GEL, that uses a single proprietary drug to prevent pregnancy as well as genital herpes, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. The gel is mucoadhesive, non-irritating, relatively low-cost, and stable. Yaso-GEL aims to be an MPT that can fill the need for non-hormonal contraceptives and protect women from […]
October 17, 2018
Monoclonal antibodies are engineered proteins derived from a single parent cell and have been used in a diverse range of therapeutic applications due to their versatility and specificity. At Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc., we believe monoclonal antibodies are promising candidates for multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) when formulated as topical (e.g., films and rings) or injectable products. […]