NIH Reinstates Funding For HIV Clinic
NIH officials on Monday announced that the agency will continue to provide funding for the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center's Rand Schrader HIV Clinic through 2008, the Los Angeles Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 12/19).
The clinic, which opened in 1986, provides antiretroviral drugs to about 3,000 uninsured and largely minority people living with HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles, about 200 of whom participate in clinical trials of new HIV/AIDS treatments.
Federal officials on Nov. 20 told the clinic that research funding would be cut on Dec. 31, and NIH on Nov. 21 blocked participants from enrolling in new clinical trials.
Los Angeles County supervisors on earlier this month voted unanimously to support emergency efforts to save the clinic, which would have been forced to close without the funds (California Healthline, 12/6).
NIH officials made the announcement following statements from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and others, according to the Times (Los Angeles Times, 12/19).