Hospitals

NIH expands clinical trial network for heart failure to mid-Atlantic region

A clinical trial network to develop heart failure treatments has added a mid-Atlantic institution to its national group of centers to accelerate research for heart failure diagnosis and management. The National Heart Lung Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, added the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, bringing its […]

A clinical trial network to develop heart failure treatments has added a mid-Atlantic institution to its national group of centers to accelerate research for heart failure diagnosis and management.

The National Heart Lung Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, added the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, bringing its national network of clinical trial centers to 10.

Penn is collaborating on a clinical trial with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland and the Lancaster Heart Group in Pennsylvania to investigate the use of a peptide involved in combating diabetes to treat heart failure.

Penn will get an initial $2 million grant as part of the program, but additional investment could fluctuate over the next seven years as the project moves forward, a spokeswoman said.

Dr. Kenneth Margulies, professor of medicine and co-principal investigator of the Penn Regional Center said: “The NHLBI Network will provide access to promising cutting-edge therapies for our patients, a structure for deploying our new clinical research initiatives and unique educational opportunities for the next generation of heart failure investigators.”

The network provides the infrastructure to develop, coordinate and conduct multiple collaborative clinical protocols to facilitate application of emerging basic science discoveries into clinical investigations, according to a statement from the National Heart Lung Blood Institute.

In addition to Penn, among the other institutions in the regional clinical trial network are the Mayo Clinic, Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation and Duke University.

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The National Heart Lung Blood Institute has allocated $44.7 million to date since the program was launched in 2006.