October 30th, 2007
India to produce a molecular condom
Utah trade officials, headed by the state’s Governor, are in India selling production rights to a “molecular condom” created at the University of Utah.
The condom is actually a vaginal gel which is liquid at room temperature, becomes gelatinous at body temperature, and contains anti-HIV drugs which are released in the presence of semen. The technical term for it is a microbicide.
The work was published last year in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The technology was developed by professor Patrick Kiser and Kavita Madanlal Gupta, a Utah graduate student from India. (Picture of Patrick Kiser from the University of Utah.)
Given how quickly this research has been commercialized, halfway around the world, the deal stands as an object lesson in both the medical industry and in international relations. The researchers hope to have a product out on the market within four years.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 11/05/07
