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David M. Clifford

URL: http://mednews.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/704.html

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Melba and Forest Seay Professor of Clinical Neuropharmacology in Neurology

Expertise: Neuropharmacology, HIV, AIDS, AIDS-related dementia, peripheral neuropathy, leukoencephalopathy, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, lymphoma, encephalitis, HIV myelopathy, AIDS treatment, AIDS in Ethiopia, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis

Bio: Clifford, who is director of the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, is a leading expert on the neurological complications of AIDS and their treatment and management. He has also participated in studies of epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. Clifford is involved in efforts to improve AIDS diagnosis and treatment in Third World countries, including a project where he is directly collaborating with medical schools in the African nation of Ethiopia.

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News Stories & Tip Sheets:

Showing 4 Stories.
ACTU receives grant

University receives $10 million to find new treatments for AIDS and related complications (http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/8533.html)

Jan. 17, 2007 -- The AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at theSchool of Medicine has received a $10 million grant to find new treatments for AIDS and HIV-related complications, such as dementia, neuropathy and cardiovascular disease. The seven-year grant is from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).


Treating MS patients

Anti-inflammatory drug's potentially deadly side effect found to be rare (http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/6725.html)

March 1, 2006 -- Scientists have completed an extensive study of more than 3,000 patients who received a promising anti-inflammatory drug, natalizumab, that was linked to three cases of a serious brain infection in large clinical trials halted in early 2005.


A pill a day may keep the virus at bay

Study eases concerns over mental side effects from potent AIDS drug (http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/6430.html)

Feb. 2, 2006 --
Sustiva is the brand name for efavirenz.
Sustiva is the brand name for efavirenz.
The largest detailed, prospective clinical study of the mental side effects of a potent anti-AIDS drug, efavirenz, has revealed that the anxiety, dizziness, "funny feelings" and vivid dreams triggered by the drug fade away within a month, possibly clearing the way for more widespread use. Efavirenz is the first drug from its class that lasts long enough to be taken once a day, and that makes it a potentially valuable drug for AIDS treatment, according to scientists at the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.


One and done

Once-a-day AIDS meds in Third World nations to be tested (http://mednews.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/5654.html)

Sept. 8, 2005 --
Researchers are trying to reduce the number of pills needed by AIDS patients.
Researchers are trying to reduce the number of pills needed by AIDS patients.
The public perception of AIDS treatment — a cocktail of many different pills taken several times a day and sometimes even in the middle of the night — has largely been erased in the United States thanks to advances in drug design and delivery. Although textbook treatment guidelines still call for patients to take a few AIDS medications twice a day, many patients in industrialized countries are now able to keep sufficiently high medication levels in their bodies with once-daily doses. Now researchers in an international collaborative that includes the Aids Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have begun an ambitious new study to see if this treatment paradigm can be implemented in Third World countries.



Showing 4 Stories.

Additional Background: At any given time, the decade-old ACTU typically conducts or participates in 25-30 clinical trials focused on state-of-the-art efforts to improve treatment of patients with AIDS. Researchers at the ACTU participate in both national and international trials of innovative approaches to AIDS treatment.

Clifford is also the director of the nationwide Neurologic AIDS Research Consortium, which is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.


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