The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has announced plans to share information and expertise with the International Partnership for Microbicides.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci said the new agreement would draw on the complementary strengths of the organisations to speed up progress towards a successful microbicide.
In a recent statement Fauci said: "We know that women make up nearly half of all people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and that most new cases of infection in women are the result of heterosexual intercourse."
Although no licensed microbicide is currently available, large-scale effectiveness trials of five candidate microbicides are underway.
Vaginal microbicides, presented as creams, gels and in other formats, could be applied topically by women and hold the possibility of reducing the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
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