Federal Grant Award Summary

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) received a $226,125 Project Grant award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) under the Alcohol Research Programs (CFDA 93.273) for the period May 11, 2026 through April 30, 2029. The award supports the REINFORCE Trial, a pilot randomized controlled trial designed to develop and evaluate a novel phosphatidylethanol (PETH)-based contingency management (CM) intervention for patients with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) in hepatology clinical settings. PETH is an innovative alcohol biomarker that extends detection windows compared to conventional monitoring methods, enabling more effective measurement of alcohol abstinence and use patterns over extended periods.

The project delivers three primary research products: (1) feasibility and acceptability assessments of PETH-based CM implementation in hepatology clinics serving ALD patients; (2) preliminary efficacy data comparing 12-week PETH-based CM intervention outcomes against standard treatment as usual, with primary outcomes focused on alcohol abstinence and secondary outcomes including alcohol reduction, treatment engagement, liver disease severity, and quality of life measures; and (3) exploratory analyses identifying sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with treatment response. The research addresses a critical gap in alcohol use disorder treatment for the ALD population, which accounts for nearly half of all liver-related deaths in the United States.