Project description
Improved TB diagnosis in Africa
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant public health challenge in Africa, exacerbated by suboptimal diagnostic approaches. Extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) accounts for approximately 15 % of the TB burden, with this figure soaring to over one-third in HIV-endemic regions. Current diagnostic methods, such as GeneXpert, struggle with EPTB, especially in pleural cases, where sensitivity is around 35 %. The EPiTB project addresses this urgent shortfall by promoting IRISA-TB, a low-cost, same-day diagnostic test specifically designed for EPTB. Developed by a South African start-up, this innovative test has already shown promise in clinical trials and is set for a large-scale multicentric study involving 2 170 patients, paving the way for improved TB diagnosis and care in Africa.
Objective
Better diagnostic approaches are required to improve TB control in Africa, which is suboptimal. One neglected aspect of TB diagnosis is that of extrapulmonary TB (EPTB), which comprises ~15% of the TB caseload. However, in HIV-endemic settings over one third of cases are due to EPTB (the most common manifestation being pleural TB). Frontline same day sputum-based diagnostic tools such as GeneXpert perform poorly when using fluid derived from EPTB-specific compartments (e.g. pleural fluid). Indeed, GeneXpert sensitivity in pleural TB is ~35%. ADA, the current standard of care used in clinical practice has poor specificity, especially in pericardial TB and TB-meningitis (see preliminary data). By contrast, unstimulated interferon-gamma (not T-cell-based IGRAs that require overnight stimulation) is an excellent biomarker for the diagnosis of EPTB (confirmed in 2 meta-analyses). A South African university start-up has now developed a low-cost same-day EPTB diagnostic test (IRISA-TB), which has been evaluated and published in several small clinical trials (see main proposal) and is locked-in for scale-up dissemination in 2022. The test is CE marked, SAHPRA approved, and endorsed by the Global Fund. This proposal encompasses a large prospective multicentric study (n= 2170 patients) of IRISA-TB in various forms of EPTB (pleural, pericardial, and peritoneal TB, and TB meningitis). The proposed study (EPiTB) has excellent fidelity with the EDCTP call because it will enable “the registration of a new health technology through pragmatic effectiveness studies”, “enable uptake of results into clinical practice” and facilitate WHO endorsement. Thus, EPiTB will drive the facilitation and uptake of an important new TB diagnostic test in Africa. Importantly, an African-invented and designed test will be promoted. Indeed, innovation and the development of an African knowledge-based economy is a key priority of the EDCTP.
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Keywords
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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.
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HORIZON.2.1 - Health
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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
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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
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2022-01
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7700 Cape Town
South Africa
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.