defining and comparing the value of a cell in VB

I have the following statement in VB;

PROD = Cells(stateRow, 2).Value

I am trying to compare the contents of this cell (which changes relative to the row)
The length of the contents is variable.

I would like to compare the contents of this cell to another cell (PRODX)  on a spreadsheet to use in a sumifs statement in VB.

The challenge is the the value of PRODX can be the value of PROD  & "*"  

Can someone tell me how to code a sumif in VB comparing PROD to PROD X.

This is an example of what I am using when I am matching two fields that are the same length

totYr = Round(Application.WorksheetFunction.SumIfs(Range("pAuths"), _
                              Range("pEvent"), evtType, _
                              Range("pYr"), Pyr, _
                              Range("ProdX"), PROD) / Members, 2)