The HCV-TARGET model is rooted in the infrastructure and collaborative network developed through the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, which is led by the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. While neither CTSA nor NIH grant dollars directly fund HCV-TARGET, the network leverages CTSA-supported infrastructure including the REDCap data management platform and the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute Biorepository. With sites at 26 CTSA-supported institutions, it is one of the country’s largest CTSA-based research networks.

Utilization of CTSA infrastructure and the team’s novel and unique approach allowed HCV-TARGET to develop practical solutions for challenges such as data abstraction and monitoring in diverse academic and community settings and creation of an FDA-certifiable database. As a result, HCV-TARGET was able to attract approximately $12 million of support for its initial study from four pharmaceutical companies: Genentech, Kadmon, Merck and Vertex.

To learn more about the CTSA consortium, visit https://www.ctsacentral.org/