NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., March 29 (UPI) -- New Jersey's Johnson & Johnson drug company is donating a promising AIDS drug to a nonprofit group, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, a Belgium unit of J&J, is set to announce the donation Monday of its TMC-120 drug to the International Partnership for Microbicides.
IPM will distribute the drug in poor countries.
TMC-120 is used as a preventative gel, also known as a microbicide, and interferes with HIV's ability to infect cells.
The drug is the first potential microbicide that specifically blocks the AIDS virus in much the same way as the potent oral anti-AIDS drugs that have revolutionized treatment of the disease.
Trials are under way to test TMC-120 for safety in humans. IPM estimates it will cost $50 million to $100 million to fully develop the compound in the next five to 10 years.
"It's not a commercial drug," said Mark Mitchnick, director of research and development for IPM. "We want to get this into places in the world where it's very unlikely that anybody would make any money."
