Education Packet

HIV Clinical Trials – This packet is a compilation of recent fact sheets and other resources. You may wish to customize it to meet the needs or interests of particular groups, such as event participants, providers, patients, clients, or the general public. So please feel free to distribute all or part of this packet as either a printout or PDF.

Information Specifically About HIV Clinical Trials

HIV and AIDS Clinical Trials (HIVinfo) – This fact sheet describes what HIV clinical trials are, the different types of HIV clinical trials, who can participate, and the potential benefits of participating in HIV clinical trials, Also available in Spanish.

AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) – ACTG is the world’s largest and longest running HIV clinical trials network. It conducts research to improve the treatment of HIV and its co-infections, including tuberculosis and viral hepatitis, as well as its co-morbidities. ACTG also seeks to advance approaches to ultimately cure HIV. The site’s About the Clinical Trials Process page explains how these trials work, how people can participate, and where they can get more information. ACTG’s Active Studies page lists ongoing HIV clinical studies, with brief descriptions of each study and links to more detailed information.

HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) – HPTN “is a worldwide collaborative clinical trials network that develops and tests the safety and efficacy of interventions designed to prevent the transmission of HIV.” The Network “strives to evaluate and implement cutting-edge biomedical, behavioral, and structural interventions to reduce the transmission of HIV.”  HPTN’s What Is a Clinical Study? fact sheet describes the four phases of clinical studies in plain language.

HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) – HVTN is “the world’s largest publicly funded multi-disciplinary international collaboration facilitating the evaluation of vaccines to prevent HIV/AIDS.” HVTN conducts all phases of clinical trials, including studies to evaluate experimental vaccines for safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy. The HVTN site has many resources on HIV vaccines, which are listed and described in the “HIV Vaccine Research and Development” section below.

International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network (IMPAACT) – IMPAACT’s mission “is to significantly decrease incident HIV and HIV-associated infections and to decrease mortality and morbidity due to HIV and HIV-associated infections and co-morbidities among infants, children, adolescents and pregnant/postpartum women.” The Network’s Study Snapshots present summaries in table form of IMPAACT studies from those in development through those closed to follow-up.

Research Toward a Cure Trials (Treatment Action Group) – This is a frequently updated chart listing clinical trials and observational studies related to the research effort to cure HIV infection. It includes the trial names and registry identifier numbers, sponsors, phase, and estimated date that each trial ends or provides interim results. By clicking on the registry identifier numbers for a particular trial, users are directed to a corresponding page with more detailed information for that trial.

General Information About Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov (National Library of Medicine) – This is a database of publicly and privately funded clinical studies conducted around the world. The site’s Learn About Clinical Studies page has brief, plain-language answers to frequently asked questions about clinical studies. It covers the different types of studies, who conducts them, where they take place, and important issues for people to consider before participating in clinical trials. The site’s Glossary explains the words and phrases frequently used in descriptions of clinical studies.

NIH Clinical Research Trials and You (National Institutes of Health) – This site has general information about clinical trials in plain language suitable for consumers, as well as several pages on specific clinical trial subtopics or for particular target audiences. These include:

• The Basics (Spanish version)
• Finding a Clinical Trial (Spanish version)
• List of Registries
• Personal Stories
• For Parents and Children
• For Health Care Providers
• For Researchers and Trial Sites
• Educational Resources
• Glossary of Common Terms (Spanish version)
• If You Have a Question
  
  

Clinical Trials Information in Spanish only – In addition to the resource pages above, NIH has created several resources specifically for Spanish speakers. These include:

• Videos Sobre la Investigación Clínica – In this series of short videos, clinical trials participants and researchers answer frequently asked questions about trials.
• Preguntas Frecuentes Sobre los Registros – This page provides answers to common questions about clinical trial registries.
• ¿Por Qué los Investigadores Realizan Distintos Tipos de Estudios Clínicos? – This infographic addresses why researchers conduct different types of clinical trials, and provides basic information about the different phases of trials and how people can participate.
• Las Minorías en los Estudios Clínicos – This infographic describes the importance of minority group participation in clinical trials.

The contents listed on this page are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, the New England AIDS Education and Training Center.