Most commonly such a product would be a topical gel inserted into the anus so that it make act as protection against the contract of a sexually transmitted infection during anal sex.
Early development of topical microbicides starting around 1998 focused on preventing of HIV transmission during vaginal intercourse.
[1] In 1998, researchers noted that gay men using products containing nonoxynol-9 as part of their infection prevention strategy despite lack of evidence of efficacy or any safety data for that practice.
This is due to a handful of visionary, passionate, and dogged scientists; funding from the United States (which has supported approximately 97% of all rectal microbicide research); and growing community engagement.
[8] Preclinical testing for rectal microbicides has been conducted in macaques to get a nonhuman primate model of drug behavior.
Rectal application of UC-781 gel, a potent antiretroviral (ARV) drug, was shown to be safe and acceptable to the 36 men and women in the trial.
[10] RMP-02/MTN-006 Tested the same vaginal formulation of tenofovir gel that reduced HIV acquisition by an estimated 39 percent overall in the CAPRISA (Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research) 004 trial that was conducted in South Africa.
Although a slight anti-HIV effect was noted in tissue from participants who applied a single dose of tenofovir gel, the finding was not statistically significant.
[citation needed] MTN-017, the follow-up to MTN-007, represented a major milestone: the first Phase II expanded safety and acceptability study of an RM.
The trial was officially launched in October 2013[14] at sites in the United States, Peru, Thailand, and South Africa.
Gel acceptability and adherence were directly compared to oral Truvada, which has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition in a number of studies among different populations.