Health policy grant to build foundation for tailored therapeutics

Dr. Sheldon Greenfield and Sherrie Kaplan, co-directors of the Center for Health Policy Research in the UC Irvine School of Medicine, have been awarded a one-year planning grant of $500,000 by the Lilly Pharmaceutical Corporation to build a foundation for a clinical approach to tailored therapeutics – providing the right drug to the right patient at the right time. Greenfield (pictured) and Kaplan will be developing feasible risk measures both for the clinical trials and treatments that take genetics, patient diversity and treatment outcomes into account for diabetes and mental health. Information from this pilot study will be used in larger-scale studies and in an effort to have the FDA improve how clinical trials for new drugs are being conducted. Greenfield and Kaplan started the Center for Health Policy Research when they joined the UCI faculty in 2003.