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Year-1 highlights from the UNITE4TB project leads
This past July marked the one-year anniversary of UNITE4TB – a seven-year, €185 million project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) 2 Joint Undertaking. As we progress with year two, we take the time to reflect on the highlights to date.
What is the aim of UNITE4TB? In a nutshell, we’re working to innovate the current development of tuberculosis (TB) treatment regimens. How are we doing this? By building a platform for carrying out novel phase 2 clinical trials that will accelerate the development of new TB regimens. We aim to improve the lives of those affected by TB by reducing treatment duration while ensuring treatment adherence and limiting adverse side effects.
Filling a treatment gap
In 2015, leaders around the world committed to the goal of eliminating TB by 2030. In spite of continued efforts in reducing the disease burden of TB over recent years, an integrated approach to anti-TB drug research and development is still lagging, which is increasingly blurring the road to disease elimination. Years of progress have been reversed by the COVID-19 pandemic and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths are increasing.
New drugs and shorter regimens are urgently required by 2025 to reach the ambitious targets set by the World Health Organization in its global strategy to end TB1. This is exactly where UNITE4TB aims to make a difference. It is our goal to deliver more effective and shorter treatment regimens through innovative clinical trial designs that conform to the highest regulatory standards. By bringing together key stakeholders in the field of TB, we hope to make a significant contribution to tackling this growing global challenge.
Project progress
To date, several crucial decisions have been made and we are on track to reach our set goals. During the first year of the project, we have chosen a sponsor for the first phase 2 clinical trials, developed innovative clinical trial designs, and shortlisted the first trial sites in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.
While there is still a long way to go, the project is advancing at a fast pace and has already reached important deliverables. All 30 partners from 13 countries are committed to addressing the challenge of developing new TB treatment regimens; thereby contributing in a meaningful way to reducing the disease burden caused by TB. We thank the IMI and all partners and funders involved for their continued support. Year two of the project is already in full swing and plans for what lies ahead are progressing nicely. Our focus now is to prepare for the clinical trials in 2023, while consolidating the progress made in year one.
Stay tuned for more updates!
1 Implementing the end TB strategy: the essentials. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2015 https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/916192/retrieve