In the beginning of October the PanACEA Coordinator Martin Boeree travelled to Tanzania, Uganda and Gabon to continue the last site assessments of 2018, accompanied by lab coordinator Lavinia Rodney and project managers Lindsey te Brake and Rutger Spoor. We were happy to see the study teams of IHI, NIMR MMRC, KCRI (Tanzania), MML (Uganda) and CERMEL (Gabon) preparing for the upcoming trials that will start in 2019. The sites are well are on track.
At the annual INTERTB meeting on October 22nd 2018 in London PanACEA Coordinator Martin Boeree and other renown experts on TB clinical drug development came together to discuss the research developments in the field. The 50 mg/kg rifampicin arm in the HR1 trial is completed and Martin Boeree lifted the veil on the preliminary results. We look forward to sharing the results as soon as we can!
In the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal, the EDCTP held its Ninth Forum, an international platform for the presentation and discussion of frontier research to address the burden of poverty related infectious diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. The theme of this Forum was the impact of European-African partnerships in clinical research, which is at the heart of the EDCTP’s mission and goals.
PanACEA was given the opportunity to share its experiences at this occasion. Dr. Nyanda Ntinginya, director of NIMR MMRC, Tanzania, and a member of the PanACEA Executive Group, gave an excellent presentation on the “learning by doing” capacity building approach in PanACEA. Dr. Stellah Mpagama, working at Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital, Tanzania and EDCTP senior fellow, told her story of development as a leader that is a result of collective effort.
Every 3 months the PanACEA consortium is meeting via teleconference to update each other on the progress of the trials and the capacity development program. On September the 10th 2018 the partners assembled again.
The so-called Expertise Cores can finally carry out their plans. They have started to purchase data management systems and statistical software.
The PanACEA Postgraduate Program is facilitated by the Expertise Cores and we are excited that applications have been opened.
PanACEA is also gearing up for the upcoming Ninth EDCTP Forum and The 49th Union World Conference on Lung Health.
We are pleased to announce the opening of our Postgraduate programme, which will offer candidates a unique opportunity to support PanACEA objectives and obtain a research degree. The research programmes will be sponsored by expertise core and other affiliated resources. Candidates will be matched to appropriate projects based on their scientific interests, experience and acumen.
To apply, the Postgraduate Application Form (below or click here) must be submitted, which consists of two parts (Part A and B). First, candidates must fill out Part A of the form. In Part B a statement of support must be supplied by a principal investigator (PI)/other referee.*
Closing date for submission: Sunday 30th September 2018 at 23:59 Greenwich Median Time (UK Time)
For further information or assistance, please contact Prof Tim McHugh (t.mchugh@ucl.ac.uk) and or Lavinia Rodney (l.rodney@ucl.ac.uk).
* Upon application, the principal investigator (PI)/other referee will be contacted via email to also provide projects for this scheme (Part C)
Postgraduate Application Form
Part A: Applicant to fill out
Part B: Principal investigator (PI)/other referee
The South African Medical Research Council interviewed Professor Andreas Diacon, founder and CEO at TASK Applied Science, on the future of TB treatment. TASK performs clinical trials in TB and has been a partner in the PanACEA consortium since the first EDCTP granting phase.
New and improved drugs are necessary to increase the effectivity of treatment of TB, Professor Diacon explains, but improvement of diagnostics and development of vaccines are essential as well to eradicate the disease. Such a multi faceted strategy requires a concentrated effort of many players globally. Specific to the African context he argues that the scientific agenda should yield a robust and cost effective overall strategy.
You can watch the interview here:
Monday 11th June until Wednesday 13th June delegates from all over the world assembled for the MBLA Conference at the University of St Andrews, School of Medicine. The conference was organized and sponsored by the University of St Andrews and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), in cooperation with the PanACEA Biomarkers Expertise Core. The conference consisted for a large part of practicalities that successfully trained the participants in Molecular Bacterial Load (MBL) assay and analysis.
This MBL assay was developed through PanACEA Capacity Development and the PANBIOME study. The MBL assay is quite easy to master but this novel quantitative method will significantly speed up the advancement of clinical trials and save resources. It allows for a smaller sample size and a more rapid and accurate identification of viable TB bacteria. The assay performs well in different laboratory circumstances, different aspects of TB diagnostics and treatment monitoring.
MBL assay will be rolled out to many PanACEA trial sites. This will build the capacity of Southern centers to deliver cutting edge microbiological methods and expand their opportunities to perform research.
From June 12-14th the EDCTP held a three-day competency training workshop in health research ethics, Good Clinical Practice and Good Clinical Laboratory Practice in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The goal of the workshop was to improve the skills and capabilities of the participants to become a “Trainer-of-Trainers” or focal person within the research networks or regions within which the EDCTP projects are operational. Attending on behalf of the PanACEA project was Bariki Mtafya, head of the laboratory Sciences at NIMR-MMRC, Tanzania.
As of June the PanACEA consortium welcomes Jean Marie Habarugira as the new EDCTP Project Officer. At the General Assembly meeting on June 11th the consortium had the first opportunity to get acquainted with him and an official visit will follow. Jean Marie Habarugira has been working for the EDCTP as Project Officer since 2010. To get to know him better, go to: http://www.edctp.org/get-know-us/people-edctp/edctp-secretariat/jean-marie-vianney-habarugira/
Jean Marie Habarugira is replacing Monique Rijks-Surette, who is leaving EDCTP to start a position at Johnson & Johnson. We enjoyed the pleasant cooperation and wish her all the best in the new challenges ahead.
Building up to this quarterly General Assembly (GA) meeting on June 11th the Expertise Cores developed a comprehensive trial capacity development proposal. The Cores are eager to start and the General Assembly gave the final go-ahead for their plans.
PanACEA is one year into the project now and an Annual Report was submitted to its funder, the EDCTP, on behalf of the consortium. The Coordinator reported on the progress of the project, activities for capacity development and dissemination of scientific results/achievements.
Other items on the agenda of the GA were the HR1, trial that is coming to an end, and the upcoming trials for which the preparations are under way.
