San Francisco Area: Computerized Search for Local Clinical Trials


The Community Consortium, an organization of HIV care
providers in the San Francisco Bay Area, is now offering the
use of a computerized data base by which people with HIV can
quickly and easily find out about local clinical trials. The
project is called "Trials Search," and is a free service to
any Bay Area resident.

The information offered by Trials Search is the same as that
contained in a published directory of trials that the
Consortium also produces. But the computer search has the
most current information, since new trials are available as
soon as they are entered, while the printed directory is only
published several times a year and will not have the latest
listings.

In addition, the results of the search are completely
specific to the needs of the inquirer. Information about
health history and current lab work, especially the CD4
count, is entered into the computer. That data is then
compared to the sometimes complicated entry criteria of all
local clinical trials, and the resulting printout matches the
patient with those trials for which he or she eligible. Our
own experience has shown that the search can winnow out
interesting trials that a visual scan of the hard-copy
directory might miss.

To obtain copies of the questionnaire for Trials Search, or
the DIRECTORY OF HIV CLINICAL TRIALS IN THE BAY AREA,
interested persons should call the Consortium office at
415/476-9554.