The PanACEA clinical trials are based on a novel multiarm, multistage (MAMS) design. Martin Boeree: “It is an innovative design which makes us able to trial several combinations of drugs in a shorter period with fewer patients and in a more cost-effective manner. We are going to try this MAMS design with the compounds we have now. In the future we are aiming to get a PanACEA II with all the new compounds and combinations tried according to this principle.”

The article also describes how following a scientific stakeholder meeting PanACEA emerged as a collaborative consortium. It was based on an EDCTP-brokered grant instead of a competitive one and encompassed three different clinical trials aiming to substantially shorten tuberculosis treatment. These projects are the REMox trial led by Prof Stephen Gillespie (University of St Andrews, United Kingdom), the HIGHRIF study coordinated by Prof. Martin Boeree (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands), and the SQ109 trial led by Prof Michael Hoelscher (University of Munich, Germany). All studies integrate research with capacity building and training.

PanACEA
The Pan African Consortium for Evaluation of Anti-tuberculosis Antibiotics (PanACEA) is a network of six European research organisations, twelve sub-Saharan clinical trial sites, and three pharmaceutical companies. The total funding of this consortium is €48,280,404 with a contribution of €17,264,270 from EDCTP.

More information:

• The Lancet Infectious Diseases; Doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(12)70041-5