[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRATULATING THE NATIONAL DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT CLINICAL TRIALS 
NETWORK AT INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE, CENTERS OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES 
                     OF HEALTH ON 10TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 20, 2010

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I, along with my colleagues 
Representative John Sullivan, Representative Mary Bono Mack, and 
Representative Carol Shea-Porter, rise today to congratulate the 
National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network at Institute on 
Drug Abuse (NIDA), Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 
on their tenth anniversary. Ten years ago, the National Institute on 
Drug Abuse (NIDA), one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of the National 
Institutes of Health (NIH) embarked upon a bold initiative by creating 
the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) to 
accelerate the process of transforming research findings into proven 
treatments for use in community practice settings. The CTN focuses 
directly on studies that can demonstrate the effectiveness of 
treatments for people whose lives are affected by drug abuse in 
communities and neighborhoods nationwide.
  The CTN established an egalitarian, bidirectional relationship 
between the research scientists and the community treatment programs. 
The challenge, which was successfully addressed by NIDA's CTN, was to 
collaborate with community treatment programs to design and execute 
rigorous scientific studies that yield accurate and reliable 
information that can be transferred into the treatment practices of the 
drug treatment community. In 2010, there are over 240 such treatment 
sites, in 35 states and Puerto Rico, partnering with 16 distinguished 
academic research centers working together to produce important 
research findings.
  By blending the skills of researchers and experts in treatment 
practice, the CTN, working with counterparts in NIDA, other Institutes 
of the NIH, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration (SAMHSA), is working to accelerate the process that 
moves effective science-based treatment findings into our nation's drug 
treatment communities. The leadership of NIDA and the CTN are committed 
to accelerating the pace by which scientific evidence changes treatment 
practice.
  The first cooperative agreements to carry out treatment research 
studies were awarded in October 1999. In just 10 short but highly 
productive years, the CTN enrolled more than 11,400 drug abusing 
patients in 25 protocols and 18 sub-studies as well as 5 secondary 
analyses arising from the primary protocols. These protocols have 
produced significant findings about medications, behavioral 
interventions and other important aspects of drug treatment, including 
methods to keep patients in treatment longer and drug-free. Clinical 
trials on HIV in the vulnerable drug user population, including rapid 
testing for HIV infection are also high priorities of the CTN.
  The outgrowth of this prolific research has been remarkable. Results 
have been included in the publication of 96 papers in peer reviewed 
journals and seven Blending Conferences at which a total of 5,500 
treatment providers have learned about cutting edge research findings 
from the CTN and other research programs supported by NIDA. The CTN 
work has also led to the establishment of a dissemination library that 
is available at no charge to the public, containing important findings 
and resource documents of the CTN and which has been accessed more than 
35,000 times in the past 3.5 years. Additionally, research data from 21 
CTN studies has been publicly posted in an effort to expedite the 
transfer of research results into knowledge, products and procedures to 
improve the public health. Most importantly, the treatment providers of 
the CTN and their scientific partners have become an army of change 
agents in their states and regions to advocate for the adoption of 
treatment interventions based upon proven, scientific evidence.
  Madam Speaker, we congratulate the National Institute on Drug Abuse 
and its Clinical Trials Network on its important accomplishments over 
the past 10 years. Their work has lessened the suffering of many, and 
as Co-chairs and Vice Co-chairs of the Addiction, Treatment and 
Recovery Caucus, we look forward to continuing to work with NIDA and 
even greater achievements of the CTN the years to come.

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