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The UTMB AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) is one of 32
units in the national Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (AACTG) that investigates treatment for HIV infection and AIDS, its
complications, and associated opportunistic infections.
UTMB’s ACTU, together with the national network of clinical and basic
science research sites, provides persons infected with HIV access to
participation in clinical research trials designed to find answers to difficult
scientific, health and quality of life questions.
Individual ACTUs are sponsored by the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.
Located on Galveston Island 50 miles south of Houston, UTMB’s ACTU was
established in 1992 and until the year 2000 was the only ACTU in Texas, Oklahoma
and New Mexico. Since then a Unit
has been added in Dallas.
Approximately 15-20 clinical trial protocols are ongoing at
UTMB’s ACTU at any given time addressing issues such as the optimum treatment
of antiretroviral-naive patients, salvage treatment for
antiretroviral-experienced patients with resistance to common agents, assessment
of agents and regimens designed to reduce the complications of antiretroviral
treatment, and approaches to prevention or treatment of opportunistic infections
and treatment of HIV patients also infected with hepatitis B virus or hepatitis
C virus.
Patients participating in ACTU studies at UTMB generally
come from the Galveston/Houston/Beaumont area, but they also come from as far
away as the Texas border valley area, western and northern Texas, and
neighboring states. Patients may
participate in ACTU treatment trials regardless of their area of residency, or
where they receive their primary health care, provided that protocol-specific
inclusion/exclusion criteria are met. ACTU
research clinicians maintain close communications with study participants’
primary care providers during the course of a trial.
UTMB’s ACTU provides options for state-of-the-art research as well as excellent patient care.
Return to ACTU Home Page
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