NIH to Continue Funding for Los Angeles HIV/AIDS Clinic Through 2008

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 earlier this month voted unanimously to support emergency efforts to save the clinic (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/6). According to the Times, NIH officials made the announcement following statements from incoming House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others. "It's very good news," Rene Seidel, an official with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said (Los Angeles Times, 12/19).

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