Exovir Inc said the EuropeanPatent Office notified it that its application covering
combinations of nonionic surfactants and all forms of
interferon has been approved and a patent will be issued in
about six months.
    Exovir is completing trials of a gel combining alpha
interferon and nonoxynol-9, an antiviral surfactant, as a
treatment for genital and oral herpes and genital warts. The
gel was given a U.S. patent in 1985.
    It said clinical tests will begin shortly to test whether
the gel is effective in preventing transmission of the AIDS
virus when used with a condom.
 Reuter
