International PravaTB Consortium Wins EDCTP Award
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The international PravaTB consortium has recently received a prestigious 4.9 million Euro award from the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) to conduct a clinical trial investigating the use of statins to prevent chronic lung inflammation and potentially TB relapse. Patients with recurrent TB suffer persistent morbidity caused by post-TB destructive lung disease. Statins have broad-range immune-modulatory and anti-inflammatory properties that may be beneficial in the treatment of TB by reducing lung pathology, accelerating Mycobacterium tuberculosis clearance and improving lung functions. This proof-of-concept phase IIB, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of statins to reduce inflammation after TB treatment completion in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected adults measured by PET/CT. Secondary objectives include immunological biomarkers and transcriptional profiling to identify correlates of treatment outcome. The coordinator of this consortium is Reto Guler (University of Cape Town, Division of Immunology). Chief principal investigator of the clinical trial is Friedrich Thienemann (University of Zürich), local PI in Cape Town is Sandra Mukasa (University of Cape Town). Other project partners include Robert J. Wilkinson (Imperial College London), Claudia Schacht (LINQ Management GmbH, Germany), Gunar Günther and Emmanuel Nepolo (University of Namibia).
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