In 1983, the MGH began leading studies of promising new anti-HIV therapies. This groundbreaking work has been supported since 1986 by funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), a division of the National Institute of Health (NIH), in a collaborative partnership now known as the Harvard/Boston Medical Center AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU). It is one of 35 medical centers designated as an Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Unit by the NIH to investigate new drugs and treatment strategies for people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The program now encompasses clinical trial sites at the Partners Hospitals (MGH and BWH), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Boston Medical Center (BMC), and is involved in many different research studies for both inpatients and outpatients. Outstanding scientists in the laboratory and excellent clinicians in the hospitals provide care to patients and insure that the most promising new therapies are made available as soon as they are shown to be effective.

The Principal Investigator of the Harvard/BMC Adult ACTU is Daniel R. Kuritzkes, M.D. who has been providing international leadership in HIV treatment since the beginning of the epidemic. A dedicated and talented staff, comprised of other physicians (including BWH AIDS Clinical Care and Research Director Paul Sax, MD and MGH Clinical Care Director Nesli Basgoz, MD), research nurses, data managers, laboratory technologists and other medical research personnel, supports the goals of the ACTU. The information learned from these studies can subsequently be used to help treat millions of people who are infected with HIV.

The Boston AIDS Malignancy Consortium was another source of AIDS clinical trials, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded those trials beginning in 1996. Dr. David Scadden, formerly the Co-Director of the Partners AIDS Research Center, led the Boston AIDS Malignancy Consortium, and the MGH served as its main administrative site. In conjunction with the Center for AIDS Oncology, this work further enabled the rapid translation of research advances regarding AIDS malignancies to benefit patients clinically.

In addition to the studies sponsored by the ACTU, other investigator-initiated or industry-funded studies are offered at the BWH and MGH, and in some cases the Dana Farber/Partners Cancer Center (DFPCC).

History

Interventional and Observational Clinical Trials

A Patient's Guide to the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU)

Acute HIV Research Group

HIV Elite Controller Study