KU Medical Center wins $10 million in federal research grants

The University of Kansas Medical Center on Tuesday said it has received $10 million in federal research grants that will be used to study smoking cessation and chronic pain treatment and to build a network to share patient data among research centers.

The projects are funded through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, an independent nonprofit organization authorized by the Affordable Care Act that receives federal funding.

The funding is for three KU projects:

• $7 million to establish a network of nine medical centers that will collect data from electronic medical records to be used for research into breast cancer, obesity and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

• $1.5 million for a clinical trial to evaluate four drugs used to treat pain of neuropathy, a disabling condition that causes pain, numbness and tingling in arms and legs.

• $1.5 million for a study of the effectiveness of long-term nicotine replacement therapy for smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

This story was originally published January 14, 2014 at 5:43 PM with the headline "KU Medical Center wins $10 million in federal research grants."