Ohio State University Medical Center is a national leader in the conduct of clinical trials for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries. These trials have led to some of the most sophisticated new treatments available for patients throughout the world. Hundreds of researchers at OSU are currently involved in nearly 1,000 clinical trials.
For consumers:
If you are interested in registering for a clinical trial at Ohio State, you can review listings of cancer trials and listings of non-cancer trials that are currently enrolling participants. If you have questions or would like additional information, please visit our Clinical Trials FAQ page.
Other resources include: U.S. National Institutes of Health's ClinicalTrials.gov. and OSU CCC-James Clinical Trials.
A few prominent examples of clinical trials at OSU Medical Center:
Cancer: The OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center and the OSU James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute are studying the investigational drug flavopiridol in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common adult leukemia in the world. Flavopiridol is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor being developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Many of the previous studies done with flavopiridol have had disappointing results. Investigators in the OSU CCC and the College of Pharmacy have piloted a novel dosing schedule of flavopiridol that appears to markedly increase the antitumor activity of this drug. Larger phase II studies are being planned to further study the activity of this drug in other cancers. Several other prominent universities have expressed interest in joining with OSU in further studies of flavopiridol, and the NCI may decide to re-examine use of the drug in solid cancers.
Heart: The Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure (STICH) trial is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. OSU is part of this 50-center international, randomized clinical trial to compare medical therapy with coronary bypass (CABG) surgery alone or in combination with surgical ventricular restoration (SVR) for patients with congestive heart failure and coronary heart disease. OSU physician scientists are members of the Worldwide Leadership Committee in this trial. Patients in the study are placed, randomly, into one of three groups: those who receive medical therapy alone; CABG alone; and those who receive CABG plus SVR. The latter group undergoes revascularization within two weeks of entering the study. All groups receive intensive medical therapy once baseline treatment is completed. The study is expected to yield new data to help clinicians make management decisions for their high-risk heart failure patients.
AIDS: A clinical trial conducted at OSU by the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) discovered a significant threat to African-American patients with AIDS. A subset study involving the drug efavirenz found that blacks have a slower elimination and therefore higher concentrations and a longer half-life of the effects of this drug than whites. OSU medical scientists were able to associate these findings with an increased rate of adverse central nervous system symptoms, leading to a later study that suggested discontinuation of the drug. Results of the trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. View a complete list of the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit studies.