SF Department of Public Health seeks retroactive NIH increase to support cocaine-use trial

San Francisco's Budget and Finance Committee on Sept. 27 voted to forward to the full Board of Supervisors a resolution authorizing the Department of Public Health to accept and expand a grant from the National Institutes of Health administered through Oregon Health & Science University.

Philip Coffin, director of the Center on Substance Use and Health, told the committee the award supports San Francisco's participation in the National Institute on Drug Abuse's clinical trials network. "Right now my participation is focused on a trial called CURB2 that uses two different medications for treating cocaine use disorder and we're currently running that trial in San Francisco," Coffin said. He said the grant became retroactive because the cumulative award exceeded the $100,000 administrative cutoff; the presentation identified an incremental increase of approximately $28,000 for the period March 1, 2023 through Feb. 29, 2024 and a total award of about $110,000 for the period June 1, 2020 through Feb. 29, 2024.

Vice Chair Rafael Mendelmann asked to be added as a co-sponsor. During public comment a speaker urged clearer disclosure of conflicts of interest; the committee did not identify any conflict related to the resolution during discussion. Chair Supervisor Connie Chien moved to forward the resolution to the full board with a positive recommendation; the committee recorded two ayes with Supervisor Asha Safai absent and the motion passed.

The full board will consider the resolution on the supervisors' agenda on Oct. 3 unless otherwise noted. The committee's action was procedural: it allowed the authority for the Department of Public Health to accept and administer the expanded grant and to continue local participation in NIDA-led medication trials.