NIAID awards Rho $16.5m yearly CRO contract
The North Carolinan CRO, which provides clinical services for commercial and government markets, will perform statistical analysis, bioinformatics, and clinical data management services to NIAID’s Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT).
DAIT has large clinical research needs in asthma and allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and transplantation.
The contract is worth approximately $16.5m per year for seven years, with an extra $6.8m in the first year.
Multiple PI structure
The scope of the project means Rho will set up five employees as principle investigators (PIs): Ronald Helms, Rho chair and head PI for the NIAID contract; Karen Kesler, senior research scientist and leadership group PI; Samuel Arbes, seior research scientist and group leader for the Asthma and Allergic Diseases Group; David Ikle, senior statistical scientist and group leader for the Transplantation Group; and Lynette Keyes-Elstein, senior statistical scientist and group leader for the Autoimmune Diseases Group. Michelle Walter, senior project director, will also help with day-to-day management of the research.
Additionally, day-to-day management will be provided by Michelle Walter, M.S., Senior Project Director.
The project was funded by federal grant number UM2-AI117870 from NIAID.
This is the largest NIAID contract for Rho, but not the first. In 2008, it signed an almost $39m deal to provide data management and safety services to the Institute’s Immune Tolerance Network.
