February 23, 2007

Partners/Harvard AIDS Clinical Trials Unit receives grant renewal

For 25 years, the MGH has been at the forefront of clinical care and research of HIV/AIDS and a leader in the development of promising new anti-HIV therapies. The MGH, along with BWH and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), together make up the Partners/Harvard AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) — one of approximately 25 domestic and 20 international units that comprise the larger National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative group known as the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). The ACTG is the largest clinical trials organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS therapeutics in the world.

Since 1986, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID),
a division of the NIH, has continuously supported the ACTU's groundbreaking work. Recently, the NIAID awarded the Partners/Harvard unit a seven-year renewal grant of approximately $7.5 million to continue exploring new and better ways of treating patients with HIV/AIDS and advance the scientific leadership of the ACTG internationally.

Principal investigator of the Partners/Harvard ACTU is Daniel R. Kuritzkes, MD, director of AIDS Research at BWH and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He also serves as vice chair and scientific director of the ACTG. Kuritzkes has provided international leadership in HIV treatment since the epidemic was
first discovered.

The Partners/Harvard ACTU clinical research site leaders are Rajesh Gandhi, MD, of MGH; Paul Sax, MD, of BWH; and Mary Albrecht, MD, of BIDMC. Theresa Flynn, RN, MSN, ANP, of MGH, serves as administrative coordinator. Working with research nurses, data managers, laboratory technologists and other medical research personnel, the team supports the goals of the ACTU.

Much of the evidence that underpins current guidelines for HIV treatment
comes from ACTG studies chaired by investigators of the Partners/Harvard ACTU, including the first trials of combination antiretroviral therapy and the demonstrated clinical efficacy of protease inhibitors for treatment of HIV infection.

For more information about the Partners/Harvard ACTU, contact Flynn at (617) 724-0072.