New Clinical Trials Unit part of national effort to test new treatments, vaccines for STDs

The UW is launching a new Clinical Trials Unit, as part of a national consortium to develop and test new methods of preventing and treating sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Funding for the consortium will total $6.04 million over five years, provided by the National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Principal investigator at the UW is Dr. Walter E. Stamm, professor of medicine and head of the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. More than 25 UW faculty members at UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center, specializing in infectious diseases, gynecology, urology, public health, epidemiology, pharmacy and biostatistics, will be involved in the research.

Other institutions in the consortium are the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"A recent study released by the Institute of Medicine showed that more than 12 million new cases of STD occur in the United States every year," said Stamm, "at a cost of more than $10 billion a year."

Diseases to be studied include chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, chancroid, human papilloma virus, genital herpes, trichomoniasis, bacterial vaginosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, Kaposi's sarcoma, and HIV infection as associated with other STDs.

"The STD Clinical Trials Unit will evaluate biomedical and behavioral interventions to prevent and control STDs," Stamm said, "Our activities will include testing of vaccines and antimicrobials, evaluating topical microbicides, measuring the effectiveness of interventions to reduce dangerous behaviors, and measuring the effectiveness of screening to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment to prevent chronic conditions."

The investigators plan to begin the first clinical trials this summer. Among the initial trials are a study using a new drug, azithromycin, to treat early syphilis, a study of microbicides to prevent STDs, and a study of novel means to diagnose and treat pelvic inflammatory disease.

Laurie McHale