AIDS Research at the NIH: A Critical Review

pathogenesis of mammalian retrovirus-induced diseases, including HIV, and in vaccine development. Their
recent work is a highlight of the annual NIAID-sponsored vaccine conferences. CMP also runs the AIDS
Animal Model Program (AAMP), which has several programs involving chimpanzees, specific pathogen-free
(SPF) rhesus monkeys, and other nonhuman primates and nonprimate mammalian animal models.
The Chimpanzee Breeding and Research Program is "the first and only national program to join the
expertise of chimpanzee breeders and researchers to provide a stable supply of healthy chimpanzees for
biomedical research... Chimpanzees are currently the only nonhuman primate model available for the study
of HIV-1 infection... Currently, 453 disease-free adult breeding chimpanzees and 166 offspring are in the
program, and the population is increasing at the rate of 5% a year."
The Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) Rhesus Breeding and Research Program "was developed to create
self-sustaining breeding colonies that are free of simian retroviruses and herpes B virus, which are made
available for PHS-supported AIDS studies... More than 1,200 animals are now included in the colonies."
Laboratory Animal Sciences Program (LASP) is developing transgenic animals for the study of human
infectious, immunological and neoplastic diseases. Animals studied include rhesus monkeys, squirrel
monkeys, rabbits and mice. CMP spending on AIDS in FY 1991 totalled $17,153,000 including all the
animal programs mentioned above; this was a decrease of 64.7% from FY 1990.
The BIomedical Research Support Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) program is "the only grant
program in the PHS that equips biomedical research scientists with sophisticated, up-to-date
instrumentation in the $100,000 to $400,000 cost range. Funds are provided for instruments including
electron microscopes, confocal microscopes, mass spectrometer, NMR spectrometers, cell sorters and
image analysis centers. In FY 1991 the SIG Program provided $765,000 for AIDS-related research in partial
support of 29 instruments."
General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs). The GCRC program spent $117 million in 1991 to support
74 General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) and an array of smaller programs including physician
support and computerized database management systems. About one sixth ($22.8M) went for AIDS
research at the GCRCs, which are funded through a unique mechanism, the M01 GCRC award. The 1991
figures were down 80% from 1990. Of the $22.8M, $17.5M went for clinical trials. The GCRC program
is almost 3 decades old, and is intended to "provide the clinical research infrastructure for investigators who
receive their primary research support from other components of the NIH... and the private sector. GCRCs
are present in 59 of the nation's 127 medical schools." Many GCRCs are also ACTU sites and receive
multiple funding streams for clinical research from NIH. Tracking GCRC funds is even harder than tracking
those awarded by other institutes. Accounting for GCRC funds appears somewhat arbitrary. GCRC
support for the ACTG is significant but hard to track. For example Duke spent $127,486 in GCRC funds
on ACTG trials. NYU got $2.1 million from NCRR. Did NIAID take GCRC funds into account when judging
the performance needs of the ACTUs in the recent Recompetition?
Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMIs). Congress mandated the RCMI program in 1985 to
enhance support for biomedical research at institutions with over 50% students from racial or ethnic
minorities. By 1991 there were 17 RCMI programs at 7 medical schools, 3 pharmacy schools, 6 graduate
schools and 1 veterinary school at a cost of about $25 million (including $2.7 million from NIAID). RCMI
awards have a special grant category, G12. AIDS-related RCMI awards included almost $1.3 million in
six projects in Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Hawaii, Alabama and Georgia. The RCMI program also sponsored
the first two RCMI AIDS Symposia at Morehouse School of Medicine in 1990 and 1991. The three NIAIDfunded minority infrastructure grants supported efforts to develop AIDS Clinical Trials Units (ACTUs) at
Howard University; University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan; and the University of
Hawaii at Manoa. One tenth of the RCMI's annual $20 million budget goes to support AIDS related
research. NCRR also supports development of "a comprehensive, culturally sensitive questionnaire

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