Lack of Success Terminates Study in Africa of AIDS Prevention in Women

In an unexpected setback for a new form of AIDS prevention, scientists on Monday halted a study in Africa intended to find out whether a daily antiretroviral pill can prevent women from becoming infected with the AIDS virus.

Early data showed no evidence that the pill was working.

Women taking the medication, Truvada, were just as likely as those taking a placebo to become infected, according to an independent panel that analyzed the results after the study had enrolled about half the 4,000 women researchers had hoped to enlist.

Of the 1,900 women taking Truvada or a placebo, 28 in each group had become infected as of last week, according to FHI, formerly Family Health International, the nonprofit group that was conducting the study in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/world/africa/19hiv.html

did they infect them with HIV to test the results or what?

such as prostitutes, though it's uncertain from the article. Aside from being *highly* unethical, I'm not sure any respectable group would want to fund a study where they deliberately infected people with HIV. I suspect it would also be illegal (at least in the US or for funding to come from the US) to deliberately infect people with HIV, though I'm not sure of the regulations surrounding clinical studies or how it works performing those studies in other countries.