Rob Aarnoutse, Leon van Halder, and Martin Boeree signing the PanACEA II Grant Agreement
PanACEA II has been granted 16.5 million euro in their drug development programme to shorten and simplify treatment of tuberculosis. On February 24th 2017, the coordinating team from Radboudumc Nijmegen, Martin Boeree and Rob Aarnoutse, have signed the PanACEA Grant Agreement with Radboudumc’s chairman of the board of directors, Leon van Halder. On February 27th, the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) has countersigned the agreement which results in the project’s official start on March 1st 2017.
Building on PanACEA I, the objectives of PanACEA II are to complete the optimization of existing drugs and to evaluate two novel agents. Combination regimens will be tested that will shorten and simplify treatment for both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis. Trials will be conducted at 11 sites throughout sub-Saharan Africa, empowering African scientists in all aspects of an integrated and comprehensive programme for drug development. The capacity development programme, which stems from PanACEA I, will be expanded to strengthen African clinical trial sites and research capacity and to strengthen and transfer African scientific leadership.
The PanACEA II consortium will have their first official meeting on 7 and 8 March 2017 in Cape Town.