A Medical Device Daily

Fourteen academic health centers in 11 states are the latest members of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium. Total funding for these new awards is $533 million over five years.

Creating a unique network of medical research institutions across the nation, the consortium is working to reduce the time it takes for laboratory discoveries to become treatments for patients and to engage communities in clinical research efforts. It also is fulfilling the need to train the next generation of clinical and translational researchers. The consortium is led by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a part of the NIH.

"With more than half of NIH's funding allocated for basic research, the CTSA consortium is perfectly poised to help move discoveries in the laboratory to improved patient care. The consortium serves as the bridge in this process that allows researchers to perfect and refine existing treatments through interdisciplinary teams that extend to the clinic and community," said Elias Zerhouni, MD, NIH director. "Through the consortium, we are better able to leverage expertise and resources across the CTSA institutions, and ultimately maximize NIH's investment in basic research, which should remain a top priority."

The institutions receiving new CTSA funding include Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University (New York); Boston University (Boston); Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts); Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis); Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois); Ohio State University (Columbus); the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, California); Stanford University (Stanford, California); Tufts University School of Medicine (Boston); the University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center (Aurora, Colorado); University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill); University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and University of Utah (Salt Lake City).

These 14 academic health centers join 24 others reported in 2006 and 2007. The 2008 CTSA grants expand state representation in the consortium to Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah. They also support pediatric research at 13 dedicated children's hospitals; expand research in genetics and genomics; enhance research in behavioral immunology and infection risk; and increase outreach into local communities.

In other grants/contracts news:

• Adroit Medical Systems (Loudon, Tennessee) reported its receipt of a 36-month supplier agreement from Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina). The new agreement centers on Adroit's leading Soft-Temp hypo-hyperthermia blankets, localized heat therapy and cold therapy systems, including the popular HTP-1500. The HTP-1500 is the industry's only FDA 510(k)-approved mercury-free heat therapy pump.

More than 2,000 hospitals in the U.S. as well as more than 50,000 other healthcare facility sites buy many of their supplies and services through Premier's 1,300 contracts. The new three-year Adroit contract follows a prior three-year arrangement, offering purchasing stability to Premier alliance members and ensuring ongoing availability of the company's hypo-hyperthermia products and accessories.

Adroit Vice President Scott Gammons said, "We are glad that Premier and its members continue to recognize the excellent value our products represent to individual hospitals and to the supply chain as a whole."

The company's products in the Premier contract include the Soft-Temp whole body hypo-hyperthermia blankets and localized temperature therapy pads, the MTRE CritiCool non-invasive induced hypothermia system, the HTP-1500 heat therapy pump and the Mobile ICE portable cold therapy system.

Adroit is a developer of temperature therapy products for medical needs.

• The Discovery Eye Foundation (DEF; Los Angeles) reports they have received a $2,380,000 grant from the Lincy Foundation (Beverly Hills, California). Their continuing grant support will fund the majority of the Discovery Eye Foundation sponsored research focused on reconstruction of the outer retina by developing clinically useful stem cell and other therapies in an effort to retard and cure age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Henry Klassen, MD, PhD, director of the Stem Cell and Retinal Generation Program at the Morris S. Pynoos Eye Research Laboratories in the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine and Michael Young, PhD, of Harvard University's Schepens Eye Research Institute, are the two principal investigators. They have been coordinating the research by scientists around the world participating in this collaborative study.

Eleven universities worldwide are participating in the Discovery Eye Foundation supported project. The grant from the Lincy Foundation will enable experts from multiple disciplines around the world to continue contributing their knowledge and expertise to this endeavor. During the first year their work has resulted in six chapters in scientific books, 10 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and numerous presentations on related topics at national and international meetings.

The scientists involved said they are hopeful that the results of their vision-preserving experiments will be ready for clinical trials in humans within the next couple of years. Thus far, the project's findings have opened up new ideas about what may be possible in terms of reconstructing the outer retina damaged as a result of AMD. Many years of work have come together through this collaborative project and enabled success where for many years there was frustration.