August 21, 2018
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital are among the 25 sites in the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT), a clinical trial network that’s been renewed to receive $1.6 million of federal funding over five years.
NeuroNEXT is a clinical trial infrastructure award that was started in 2012 to make neuroscience clinical trials more efficient and to help increase the number of treatments that get into clinical practice. It is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.
“Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s are innovators in neurological care and clinical trials are a mechanism by which we can take this innovation to our patients. NeuroNEXT is an extremely competitive award that allows us to create the infrastructure to bring the latest therapies to the Columbus community,” said Dr. K. Craig Kent, dean of the Ohio State College of Medicine.
“Ohio State’s Department of Neurology was one of the highest performing NeuroNEXT sites during its initial funding period. The renewal of the NeuroNEXT award allows us to build on that success as one of the top neurology research programs in the country,” said Dr. Stephen J. Kolb, site principal investigator and director of the ALS/Motor Neuron Disease Clinic and Translational Research Program in Ohio State’s College of Medicine.
The program encourages collaborations between academic centers, disease foundations, and industry. If a researcher is considering a Phase II clinical study, but doesn’t have the experience to conduct it, he or she can apply to the NeuroNEXT program to leverage resources that are available at participating centers. These centers can provide equipment, standardize data acquisition and analysis, or help with patient recruitment.
In addition, because each study takes place simultaneously in multiple centers, it takes less time to enroll the targeted number of patients compared to a single center study.
“We are delighted that this renewal extends our ability to participate in clinical trials in neurological diseases, especially for uncommon neurological conditions where there has been little industry interest. This renewal recognizes the strength and potential of neurology clinical research at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital,” said co-principal investigator Dr. Warren Lo, pediatric neurologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Ohio State’s College of Medicine.
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Media Contact: Eileen Scahill, Wexner Medical Center Media Relations, 614-293-3737, Eileen.Scahill@osumc.edu