NIH funds liver damage studies

Executive Summary

Patients suffering severe liver damage from OTC or Rx drugs, nutritional supplements, alternative medicines and herbals will be studied over the next three years in a "network" of five clinical centers and one data coordinating center, NIH announces Nov. 19. The five drug-induced liver injury (DILIN) centers - in North Carolina, Indiana, San Francisco, Michigan and Connecticut - will each receive $2.25 mil. annually from NIH. The DILIN study will follow patients who recently suffered an adverse liver reaction from a drug in order to "find out what happens to them as a result of their injury" and will "develop standardized definitions" to identify cases of liver damage...