Short description: Program sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health
The Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA) was a program sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States.[1][2] Started in 1989, CPCRA was instrumental in some research databases being established. Research from the programs assisted the evaluation of therapies for treating HIV in diverse populations.[citation needed]
CPCRA was established in 1989[3] and included 15 research units. A Statistical Center at the University of Minnesota was funded from 1990 to 1997.[4][5]
CPCRA was one of four networks that NIH was using to conduct clinical trials that were looking to understand possible therapies for people with HIV infection.[6] Th CPCRA network was community-based with access to diverse populations across the spectrum of HIV diseases..."[7]
The overall objective of the CPCRA is to design studies of sufficient size and duration of follow up to evaluate the long-term benefits and unintended consequences of various treatment strategies using available agents to assess long-term immunologic, virology and clinical outcomes. CPCRA trials are designed with nested sub-studies aimed at understanding the pathogenesis of HIV infection and the public health implications of its treatment.[8]
By 2001, CPCRA had 4,244 people participating in their studies, with trials underway in 17 cities.[9]
The International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT) bio-repository system has its roots in the CPCRA.[10]
Research
An antiretroviral medication self-reporting questionnaire was developed by the program.[11] The program organised the 058 FIRST (Flexible Initial Retrovirus Suppressive Therapies) trial: a large, long-term, randomised, prospective comparison of three different antiretroviral strategies in highly active antiretroviral therapy-naïve, HIV-1-infected persons.[12]
References
↑Jacobson, M. A.; Besch, C. L.; Child, C.; Hafner, R.; Muth, K.; Deyton, L. (1991). "Clinical programs for clinical research on AIDS: Description of a randomized prospective study of clindamycin versus pyrimethamine for prevention of Toxoplasma gondii infection". European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases10 (3): 195–198. doi:10.1007/BF01964462. PMID1676364.
↑Mannheimer, Sharon; Friedland, Gerald; Matts, John; Child, Carroll; Chesney, Margaret (2002). "The Consistency of Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy Predicts Biologic Outcomes for Human Immunodeficiency Virus—Infected Persons in Clinical Trials". Clinical Infectious Diseases34 (8): 1115–21. doi:10.1086/339074. PMID11915001.
↑MacArthur, RD; Chen, L; Mayers, DL; Besch, CL; Novak, R; van den Berg-Wolf, M; Yurik, T; Peng, G et al. (April 2001). "The rationale and design of the CPCRA (Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS) 058 FIRST (Flexible Initial Retrovirus Suppressive Therapies) trial". Control Clin Trials22 (2): 176–90. doi:10.1016/S0197-2456(01)00111-8. PMID11306155.