Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic (VOICE, also called MTN-003) is a clinical trial conducted by the Microbicide Trials Network testing a microbicide for sexually transmitted diseases which is intended to prevent HIV infection.
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Trial
The purpose of the VOICE trial is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of two antiretroviral approaches for preventing sexual transmission of HIV in women. One of the study groups would apply vaginal tenofovir daily and the other would take a tenofovir or Truvada tablet daily.
VOICE is the first efficacy trial of both pre-exposure prophylaxis and vaginal microbicide HIV prevention. It was designed to answer multiple crucial questions about experimental HIV prevention methods.
Cancellation of study arms
In September 2011 the group taking oral tenofovir was cancelled when the drug was determined to not show efficacy. In November 2011 the group using the vaginal gel was cancelled. This left two groups active - the group taking Truvada and the group taking oral placebo.
Partners
The trial is conducted in partnership with CAPRISA.