PROVIDENCE – The Ocean State Clinical Coordinating Center (OSCCC), a collaboration of the pulmonary /critical care and infectious diseases divisions of Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, RI, will serve as the academic clinical coordinating center in tandem with the Hospital St. Luc CCC in Brussels, Belgium for an international Phase II study of a drug to treat severe sepsis, called CytoFab.
The OSCCC at Rhode Island Hospital has been awarded an $800,000 grant from AstraZeneca to coordinate the randomized multicenter trial for the investigational agent CytoFab. Steven LaRosa, MD, an infectious diseases specialist and director of the center, will oversee Rhode Island Hospital's role in the study. LaRosa and the staff of the OSCCC will work with AstraZeneca on the protocol development, site selection and approval of all trial subjects while also offering protocol assistance to investigative sites.
LaRosa, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a physician with University Medicine Foundation, says, "Our expertise in clinical trials and the credentials of our staff, combined with immediate access to the resources Rhode Island Hospital offers as an academic medical center, have positioned us as an international leader in the coordination of clinical trials. We look forward to this new trial and the results that it may have on the future of sepsis treatment."
The OSCCC at Rhode Island Hospital specializes in designing and implementing clinical trials of novel agents, diagnostics and devices to confront medical issues related to critical care, infectious diseases and biological defense. The OSCCC comprises experts in critical care, infectious disease and pulmonary medicine who provide both administrative and clinical support for hundreds of study sites involved in trials.
LaRosa adds, "This will be the fourth multicenter trial that we have coordinated at the OSCCC since our inception in 2004. We previously completed the largest clinical trial in severe community-acquired pneumonia."
The grant is for a 21-month period, from March 2009 through November 2010. For more information on the trial or the OSCCC, contact Susan McNamara, research program manager, at 401-444-1488.
Founded in 1863, Rhode Island Hospital (www.rhodeislandhospital.org) in Providence, RI, is a private, not-for-profit hospital and is the largest teaching hospital of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. A major trauma center for southeastern New England, the hospital is dedicated to being on the cutting edge of medicine and research. Many of its physicians are recognized as leaders in their respective fields of cancer, cardiology, diabetes, emergency medicine and trauma, neuroscience, orthopedics, pediatrics, radiation oncology and surgery. Rhode Island Hospital ranks among the country's leading independent hospitals that receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with NIH research awards of nearly $27 million annually and nearly $46 million in total. It is home to Hasbro Children's Hospital, the state's only facility dedicated to pediatric care. Rhode Island Hospital is a founding member of the Lifespan health system.