Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA)

Project Background and Goals:

In 1989, CDN was awarded a $5 million contract by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to conduct Community Based Clinical Trials of HIV/AIDS. The Community Program for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA) which serves clients in ten community health centers in New York City and New Jersey, recently received an additional $2.9 million to follow patients through September 30, 1997. Since the start of the contract, CDN has accrued a total of 966 patients consisting of 30% female, 80% African-American and Latino, and 39% Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). Currently there are 269 patients participating in open experimental protocols and at the end of 1995 CDN was following approximately 130 patients in five protocols at ten Community/Migrant Health Centers (C/MHCs) in New York and New Jersey.

The mission of the CPCRA is to test, by scientifically sound methodology, interventions that are in wide use or of potential use, in primary care settings, incorporating underserved populations, and emphasizing studies that assess clinical hypotheses with easily measured and clear clinical endpoints that do not require specialized equipment or tests in order to provide rapid dissemination and implementation of results from research into primary care.

The major concern of the CDN HAP is to provide access to HIV/AIDS clinical trials to populations that have been traditionally left out from clinical research including: women, children, people of color and injecting drug users and their partners. The services provided by the CDN HAP not only reflect CDN's mission and values statement, but also brings clinical research to the community, and proves that non-traditional settings can be a viable way to do research and provide much needed health services to underserved communities.