Motto From hope to cure. Area served United States | Founded 1989 | |
Location Los Angeles, California Key people Carolyn H. Carlburg, J.D., Chief Executive Officer
Stephen J. Brown, M.D., Medical Director Website AIDS Research Alliance: Home | ||
AIDS Research Alliance of America (ARAA) is a national community-based 501(c)3 non-profit medical research institution that seeks to develop a cure for HIV/AIDS, medical strategies to prevent new HIV infections and better treatments for people living with HIV/AIDS. Since 1989, ARAA has conducted over 150 clinical and pre-clinical studies, ranging from alternative therapies that employ a complementary approach to HIV care to the first in-human HIV vaccine trial. AIDS Research Alliance is responsible for "fast-tracking" to market half of today's anti-HIV treatments.
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History
In 1989, a group of Southern California physicians and philanthropists, led by Paul Joseph Rothman, M.D. and Matthew Rushton, Hollywood film producer of Mrs. Doubtfire, founded Search Alliance to speed the discovery and development of effective treatments against HIV and its complications.
Working with physicians who were experimenting with potential treatments in their private practices, the organization pooled data and identified promising experimental regimens. The staff designed the studies, coordinated the data collection of Alliance physicians, and analyzed and published the results.
In 1995, Search Alliance changed its name to AIDS Research Alliance of America and centralized all research activities in one licensed facility based in Los Angeles. This allowed ARAA to identify and manage scientific, clinical and organizational strategies with a staff of dedicated research professionals, while maintaining affiliations with physicians, academics and scientists in research institutions around the world.
In 2009, ARAA relocated from West Hollywood, where it had been located for 14 years, to a larger research facility in downtown Los Angeles.
As a community-based organization, ARAA serves as a bridge between communities at risk of HIV and government-funded research. It collaborates with government-sponsored researchers and pharmaceutical companies, but also advocates for and conducts research that is not driven by the demand for profitability. ARAA has been licensed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a drug to combat HIV - prostratin. Carolyn H. Carlburg, J.D. is the current President and Chief Executive Officer, and Stephen J. Brown, M.D. is the current Vice President and Medical Director.
Research
Today, AIDS Research Alliance of America focuses its research and development program on several core areas, including the clinical trials of anti-HIV drugs that inhibit the virus in novel ways, and new medical strategies – like microbicides and vaccines – that prevent the spread of HIV. ARAA conducts clinical trials aimed at treating the medical disorders that accompany HIV, including HIV-associated lipodystrophy, diarrhea and neuropathy. Developing strategies that will eliminate HIV viral reservoirs has become a major research initiative of ARAA. This includes its work on prostratin, a potential reservoir ablative agent that ARAA has in-licensed from NIH. In 2008, ARAA filed a new patent on prostratin and its analogues, thus broadening its research platform targeting the HIV reservoirs.
Funding
AIDS Research Alliance of America funds its research by using a business model that includes contract research as well as tax-deductible donations from private individuals, corporations and foundations. ARAA conducts clinical trials for major pharmaceutical sponsors including Pfizer, Merck, Theratechnologies, Schering-Plough, Tibotec, NeurogesX, National Institutes of Health, Serono, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Agouron, GlaxoSmith Kline, Orasure Technologies, Gilead Sciences, and many others.
Funders and partners to ARAA have included The Ahmanson Foundation, Capital Group Companies, City of West Hollywood, Concord Music Group, David Michod, Douglas MacBride Kinney, Entertainment AIDS Alliance, The Joseph Drown Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, MacHeist, The MacDonald Family Foundation, The Pepsi Refresh Project, The Silva Watson Moon Walk Fund, The University Wide AIDS Research Program [the University of California], the Division of AIDS [NIH], Until There is a Cure, and many others.
ARAA participates each year in the Combined Federal Campaign, as part of the Medical Research Charities Federation and receives high ratings from the American Institute of Philanthropy and Charity Navigator. ARAA hosts a number of fundraising events – including ArtSeen featuring A Taste of Los Angeles and has been a beneficiary of events like Macy’s Passport In-Store, Spinning Nation and the Game Show Congress. ARAA is a permanent member of the Global Giving Foundation online fundraising platform and has a partnership with We-care.com, an online charity mall. ARAA is also a beneficiary of the Ralph's Community Contribution Program in Los Angeles.
ARAA has earned three and four-star ratings from Charity Navigator for exceeding or meeting industry standards and performing as well as or better than most charities in its space.