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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the premier organization concerned with the science of drug abuse and addiction, annually chooses groundbreaking work being done in the field of drug abuse and addiction research and supports the advancement of the work with a half million dollar award for further investigation. Grants are reviewed by a committee of experts in the field and ultimately decided upon by NIDA’s leadership.
The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) Center for Urban Epidemiologic (CUES) Researchers, Dr. Crystal Fuller and Dr. Silvia Amesty, are exploring post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for intravenous drug users (IDUs). Their questions and subsequent proposal have garnered the attention of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the two are now being considered for the highly competitive Avant Garde Award.
Crystal Fuller, PhD, and Silvia Amesty, PhD, submitted a proposal that will offer non-occupational post exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) in ESAP-registered pharmacies to IDUs allowing them to purchase syringes in a pharmacy without a prescription. The proposal does, however, make reference to a formative phase of qualitative interviewing being done to determine if these are the best eligibility criteria. This proposed caveat allows for some criteria changes, if necessary.
The nPEP program provides HIV/AIDS testing and will be open to those IDUs that do not have risky syringe sharing or risky sexual encounters behaviors. However, in the event that presenting persons have had a risky exposure, providing access to nPEP will potentially prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS, and the program allows IDUs to know, without question, where they can go to obtain HIV testing and have a source for nPEP.
This program is akin to the PEP program being made available for health care workers exposed to HIV either through a prick or cut in a hospital. In these cases, health care workers are treated with PEP, which is a regimen of a high dose of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) used in treatment of HIV positive persons.
Those eligible for participation in the nPEP study will include persons using illicit drugs, purchasers of syringes at pharmacies and persons who do not consistently share syringes but have isolated incidences where they encounter a risky event.
Posted on August 28, 2009
Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org
Reporters: to arrange interviews with NYAM medical and urban health experts, contact
Andrew J. Martin, Director of Communications
212-822-7285 / amartin@nyam.org
The 2012-2013 Duncan Clark Lecture - The Affordable Care Act: An Insider’s View
Featured Speaker: Sherry Glied, PhD, former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
November 19, 2012 - The NYAM Section on Health Care Delivery welcomes Sherry Glied, PhD, former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who will deliver the 2012-2013 Duncan Clark Lecture on "The Affordable Care Act: An Insider's View."
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The New York Academy of Medicine with support from the New York State Heath Foundation released a new report, Federal Health Care Reform in New York State: A Population Health Perspective.
This report identifies opportunities that build on both the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) and New York’s ongoing efforts toward improving the health of its 19 million residents.
Read press release
Read report
