Project description
Combating drug-resistant tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious bacterial disease that affects millions of people worldwide. It is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and continues to be a major health threat, particularly due to increasing resistance to currently available drugs. This significantly restricts treatment options, necessitating new strategies. The aim of the EU-funded TASP project is to address this issue by preventing further drug resistance. The project’s approach involves an initial intensive phase of therapy to rapidly reduce bacterial load in high-risk patients, followed by individualised regimens tailored to patient needs. The consortium will evaluate this strategy in field trials conducted across African regions, integrating the use of low-cost diagnostic tools and air-cleaning devices as well.
Objective
In the 2024 updated Bacterial Priority Pathogen list of WHO, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) is a critical priority pathogen, emphasizing the urgent need for action. Rifampicin resistant-tuberculosis (Rr-TB) is estimated to cause 13% of antimicrobial resistance-attributable deaths globally and is driven by both ongoing resistance acquisition and person-to-person transmission. Bedaquiline (BDQ), a new drug, is strongly recommended for Rr-TB treatment since 2018. In this very short time, BDQ resistance has proliferated significantly. For Rr-TB at risk of/with BDQ resistance (BDQr/Rr-TB) there is no evidence-based regimen. The current practice, with continued failing regimens, imperils the potency of the remaining Rr-TB drug arsenal.
Tuberculosis Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (TASP) aims to rapidly reduce bacillary load in patients at risk/with BDQr/Rr-TB by using an empirical highly bactericidal intensive phase (for those at risk) followed by drug-susceptibility testing (DST)-informed artificial intelligence (AI)-aided Treatment Recommender's regimen composition. 125 participants at risk/with BDQr/Rr-TB will be enrolled in Nigeria, Mozambique and South Africa. Baseline and acquired resistance will be monitored and a novel, fast and quantitative phenotypic method (thin layer agar), with little infrastructural requirements, will be evaluated in TASP’s high burden, limited resource settings through decentralized implementation.
Additionally, TASP will improve environmental control with co-designed, portable air cleaners, built sourcing low-cost materials from the local market. Filter waste products will be used for resistance surveillance and compared to conventional bio-aerosol samplers.
The anticipated impact of TASP is a cost-effective TB antimicrobial stewardship programme that reduces further resistance development and salvages the current all-oral BDQ regimens for the future.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.2.1 - Health
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2024-01-two-stage
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2000 ANTWERPEN
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.