The community that works with and cares for people living with HIV/AIDS had cause to react with alarm when the National Institutes for Health announced this week its intention to shutter the only clinical trial program for the disease in the state.

Everyone should feel alarmed. It's disturbing that a federal agency can be so dismissive of the needs of a state that, because of geographic isolation, has been effectively cut off from a vital source of new and promising drugs to combat AIDS.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has decided to end the $2 million annual clinical trials grant, which for 15 years has underwritten research into experimental drug regimens through the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns Medical School. These treatments are aimed at bolstering the immune systems of HIV-positive patients.

But the loss of the grant brings further repercussions. The grant funds the hiring of key staffers who also can anchor other research and clinical programs. This enhances the chances that UH can attract additional research money from other sources, enabling a fee-for-service treatment clinic, Hawai'i-based training for AIDS programs in Pacific Rim countries and other benefits for the Islands.

And the impact on the research itself can't be overlooked. While the HIV-positive population of the state is relatively small — an estimated 3,000 people — more than a third are Asian and Pacific Islanders. The loss of the data on how well medications fare within those ethnic categories can't be easily replaced through other study groups.

Above all, basic humanitarian concerns ought to give federal officials pause. While patients elsewhere can commute if their local program shuts down, Hawai'i residents simply lack a practical alternative.

Our congressional delegates surely have a role to play as administrative appeals proceed. For starters, they need to push for more transparency on the basis for this decision: Were Hawai'i's circumstances fairly assessed in this process?

And they need to bring their influence to bear on a move that deprives Hawai'i of research that benefits the 49 other states.