MTBVAC in Newborns: kick-off meeting in South Africa

10 July 2018

The kick-off meeting of the EDCTP-funded project MTBVAC in Newborns took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 6-7 June 2018. The candidate TB vaccine MTBVAC was developed by researchers from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. The project, coordinated by Ingrid Murillo of the biopharmaceutical company Biofabri S.L. includes a phase IIa dose-defining safety and immunogenicity trial of candidate TB vaccine MTBVAC in South African newborns while at the same time building research capacity to support vaccine efficacy trials in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ingrid Murillo, Clinical research director of Biofabri S.L., Spain, as quoted in EDCTP’s 2018 World TB Day message: “Our clinical development consortium will prepare for an infant efficacy trial of MTBVAC by establishing a network of three African sites in South Africa, Senegal and Madagascar. Each site has established research infrastructure. Senegal and Madagascar will, under this proposal, receive immunology laboratory technology transfer and training, and collect crucial TB epidemiological data to enable swift transition into a phase 3 infant trial.”

Project partners from South Africa (UCT), Senegal (CRB-EPLS), Madagascar (IPM), Spain (Biofabri S.L and the University of Zaragoza) and the Netherlands (TBVI) attended the meeting. Furthermore, the steering committee held their first face-to-face meeting. Work package leaders and members had the opportunity to be introduced to each other and to discuss about the study approach. The South African partner, the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI, UCT) hosted also a visit to their field site.

Background

 

Partners in the MTBVAC Newborns project: