History
Over the last 48 years, the Collaborative Antiviral Study Group (CASG) has advanced the diagnosis and treatment of viral diseases through the design and implementation of innovative clinical trials. The original charge of the NIAID-sponsored CASG was to evaluate treatments of serious herpes virus infections, especially those caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV). Realizing that these problems were best evaluated by a multi-center approach employing controlled clinical trials, the CASG was established to lead these studies in 1972. Through these efforts the standard of care for herpes simplex encephalitis, neonatal herpes simplex virus infections, congenital cytomegalovirus infection and varicella-zoster virus diseases has been established.
Through the years, the CASG has expanded from a small group of 20 sites in 1975 to include institutions throughout the United States as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, Peru and Sweden.
Since its inception, the CASG has been housed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The Central Unit of the CASG at UAB provides medical, laboratory, biostatistical and administrative staff to coordinate research design and regulatory affairs related to conducting multi-center trials in a changing environment. UAB researcher and professor, Richard J. Whitley, M.D., has provided continuous leadership for the CASG and has served as Project Director since 1980. David Kimberlin, M.D., is now the CASG Co-Project Director and oversees all CASG pediatric studies. In 2019, the Congenital and Perinatal Infections Consortium (CPIC), funded by the NIH, joined the CASG family of studies, and is now a vital piece of our research portfolio. It brings new research study sites and fresh perspectives to our efforts to continue to learn about diseases that pose a threat to public health.
Mission Statement
The mission of the CASG is to:
- facilitate the evaluation of promising treatments of acute and chronic human viral diseases that are deemed medically and scientifically important by the Department of HHS/NIH/NIAID/DMID;
- facilitate advances in clinical antiviral therapy by rigorously evaluating the efficacy and safety of new therapeutic regimens for serious viral diseases in adult and pediatric immunocompromised and immune competent patient populations;
- develop and implement emergent infection research for disease identified by the NIAID as a threat to public health;
- develop and apply contemporary diagnostic procedures to advance understanding of the natural history of diseases.
