A-PLUS Study Receives 2024 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award

North Bethesda, MD, February 26, 2024 – The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) is pleased to announce that the research team for the Azithromycin Prevention in Labor Use Study (A-PLUS) will be honored with a 2024 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award by the Clinical Research Forum (CR Forum).

This award honors groundbreaking clinical research achievements from across the United States. A CR Forum panel selected the ten winning studies from clinical research trials published in peer-reviewed journals in 2023. Awardees were chosen on the degree of innovation and novelty involved in the advancement of science; contribution to the understanding of human disease and/or physiology; and potential impact upon the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of disease.

A-PLUS results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that one dose of azithromycin, a low-cost, generic, oral antibiotic, can prevent life-threatening sepsis when given during labor to women planning to deliver vaginally in low- and middle-income countries. The findings have the potential to change clinical practice in low-resource settings and reduce the burden of maternal mortality worldwide.

“The A-PLUS trial findings are a significant advancement for women’s health worldwide,” said Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, President and CEO of the FNIH. “We were delighted to be part of the team working with NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) together with many other partners. The Clinical Research Achievement Award recognizes the trial’s innovative and affordable approach to addressing a leading cause of maternal death.”

This multi-site study was led by principal investigators Dr. Alan Tita and Dr. Waldemar Carlo at the University of Alabama and conducted through NICHD’s Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research. It was co-funded by NICHD and the FNIH.

The award will be presented at the Paris Las Vegas on April 2, 2024, during the annual Translational Science Conference.