UT’s Health Science Center – GPS Spotlight on Innovative Research Centers

Effective collaboration is one of the most important aspects in the field of clinical research. It’s something that researchers working in the state of Texas have learned how to do well. By looking at the list of cutting-edge clinical trial facilities in the Lone Star state, you can see that many are working together to conduct large-scale clinical trials. Just look at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

A team from the Health Science Center has joined forces with specialists from the Texas Liver Institute and a few other institutions for a groundbreaking hepatitis C trial. Their goal is to identify a new combination of medications that can cure most people who contract this infectious disease.

Clinical Trials Coordinated for Hepatitis C

Dr. Eric Lawitz, the VP of research and scientific development at the Texas Liver Institute and a professor at the Center’s School of Medicine, coordinated a previous research study that tested a combination of simeprevir and sofosbuvir (ribavirin accounted for). The team reported that this combination cured 93 percent of the participants within 12 weeks.

Hepatitis C remains a serious challenge for health care professionals around the country. However, the staff at UT’s Health Sciences Center say officials should be encouraging more people to get tested for HCV. Those who are diagnosed should seek the best treatment available to them.

Officials from the Health Science Center estimate that at least 3.2 million Americans are living with HCV, but most are completely unaware of it.

Standout Qualities of UT’s Health Science Center

UT’s Health Science Center is a leading institution thanks in part to their health science programs and research initiatives. The facility is actually located within the South Texas Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. The center is one of the crucial components of the renowned University of Texas System, which also includes:

• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
• University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
• MD Anderson Cancer Center
• University of Texas Medical Branch

As the largest health sciences university in South Texas, the UT Health Science Center not only serves the city of San Antonio, but also a large portion of South Texas. Their Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) is well known for it’s Institute for Drug Development (IDD) which runs one of the biggest oncology Phase I clinical trial programs on the planet.

Their IDD program has helped develop or test 15 of the last cancer drugs to be approved by the FDA.