Cook County Health officials for nearly 10 months have halted new clinical trials at one of the nation’s leading HIV/AIDS research centers as they investigate "concerns" about a nonprofit organization that for decades has managed the county’s medical research grants.
But as the moratorium entered a ninth month this week, staff were told even grant funds for ongoing trials were apparently not forthcoming and more than a dozen CORE researchers could receive pink slips as soon as this week. The layoffs would upend ongoing work and dim the prospects for future funding from state and federal agencies that pump millions of dollars annually into research, said Jim Pickett, an HIV research advocate who has worked with CORE since the 1990s.
"CCH has engaged an impartial firm to review recent trial activity, including compliance with financial and clinical research standards. The investigation is actively underway. In the interim," the statement reads, "CCH has temporarily paused engaging in new clinical trials." County officials said the pause did not affect ongoing research, but one researcher who was informed they were on the list for layoff said there would be no one to continue their work if they and their peers were gone.