From medicalXpresss.com…

Conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), DESIRE focused on potential delivery methods for rectal microbicides—topical products being developed and tested to reduce a person’s risk of acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted infections from anal sex. MTN researchers are particularly interested in on-demand options—used around the time of sex—and behaviorally congruent options that deliver anti-HIV drugs via products people may already be using as part of their sex routine.

“DESIRE stands out as a unique study because we took a step back and said, ‘Let’s figure out the modality without automatically pairing it with a drug’,” explained José A. Bauermeister, Ph.D., M.P.H., study protocol chair and Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations at the University of Pennsylvania. “It gave us the ability to manipulate the delivery method without having to worry about how reactions to a particular drug might confound the results. We also had people trying out these methods in their own lives, and only then asked them to weigh the attributes of each.” As such, he said, participants weren’t making choices based on theoretical concepts, but instead using real experiences to guide their preferences.

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