Congenital and Perinatal Infections Rare Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (CPIC)

The Congenital and Perinatal Infections Consortium (CPIC) is focused on reducing the morbidity and mortality of rare viral infections such as congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease, neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, and neonatal viral sepsis caused by enteroviruses (EVs) and the related human parechoviruses (HPeVs). These infections have been grouped together because of their pathogenic potential in the neonatal population and the current and future opportunities to intervene meaningfully to improve outcomes. Though antiviral therapeutic agents with activity against each of these viruses already exist (CMV, HSV) or are in development (EV, HPeV), collective consequences include developmental and motor delays, neurologic morbidity, visceral organ damage, hearing and vision loss, respiratory and cardiac complications, septic shock, and death. The opportunity to reduce the impacts of these diseases forms a common purpose among the 29 consortium members. Led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, these 29 sites have cooperated closely for decades as the Collaborative Antiviral Study Group to investigate the natural history and treatment of rare congenital and perinatal infectious diseases, and will continue to advance their research as an RDCRN consortium.

The Congenital and Perinatal Infections Consortium (CPIC) is part of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) through its Division of Rare Diseases Research Innovation (DRDRI). CPIC is funded under grant number U54AI150225 as a collaboration between NCATS and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). All RDCRN consortia are supported by the network’s Data Management and Coordinating Center (DMCC) (U2CTR002818). Funding support for the DMCC is provided by NCATS and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).