New Studies Include Evaluation of Vaccine Among Health Care Workers and Children

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Abt Associates two new contracts to evaluate the effectiveness of the H1N1 vaccine among health care workers and children under the age of 18. In December 2009 the CDC awarded the company a related contract to evaluate the vaccine's effectiveness among pregnant women.  All three groups are considered high risk populations by CDC either because of increased risk for complications or because of increased risk of contracting or spreading the disease.  The combined value of all 3 contracts total $12.8 million.

As with the original contract, Abt Associates will prepare detailed protocols for the studies, identify and enroll study participants, coordinate testing of participants for infection with influenza viruses, develop and maintain all study databases, and assist the CDC with data analysis.

To carry out this work Abt is partnering with two distinguished health services researchers: Adrienne G. Randolph, M.D., M.Sc., and Allison Naleway, Ph.D.  Dr. Randolph is Associate Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and the Chair of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) network.  The Palisi network will serve as the clinical partner for the children's study. Dr. Naleway, a senior researcher at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, will be the lead partner for the health care worker study for the Kaiser Permanente sites, which include Northwest, Hawaii and Georgia. Dr. Naleway is also the lead partner for the pregnant women study.

"Abt Associates is uniquely equipped to conduct an examination of the H1N1 vaccine," said Dr. Scott Royal, the company's Division Vice President for Domestic Health. "These studies will benefit from our highly experienced staff in the areas of epidemiology and biostatistics, our experience managing complex projects and large surveys, and our distinguished research partners."

Abt Associates, an employee-owned company, applies scientific research, technical assistance, survey, and consulting expertise to a wide range of social, economic and health policy issues; international development; clinical trials and registries; and complex business problems. Founded in 1965, the company provides services to U.S. federal, state and local governments; universities and foundations; media; and major corporations. In fiscal year 2009, the company had revenue of $264 million. Its staff of over 1,500 is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Atlanta, Georgia; Bethesda, Maryland; Durham, North Carolina; Lexington, Massachusetts (Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions, Inc.); New York, New York (Abt SRBI); and in Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

SOURCE Abt Associates

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