TBnet webinar
Our May webinar ""Modelling the impact of novel diagnostic tools and strategies for tuberculosis detection in high-risk and vulnerable populations" is postponed to 6 June. Please visit the link to find out more about this webinar: https://www.tbnet.eu/post/tbnet-webinar-6-june-2024
TBnet Academy 2024 in Athens
TBnet Academy 2024 has just finished in Athens, Greece. We have had fantastic four days full of science, medicine, networking, and fun. We had state-of-the-art lectures prepared by the participants, keynote lectures from the faculty, and a series of talks on the development of “soft skills” needed in tuberculosis research. We also visited tuberculosis wards of the hospital and diagnostic laboratories.
We thank our hosts from Sotiria Hospital for Chest Diseases, the faculty and all the organisers who made this wonderful event possible. We are extremely grateful to our amazing participants who joined this year bringing their knowledge, new ideas, enthusiasm, and energy to the tuberculosis field that we all care about so much.
We have had many unforgettable experiences, both planned and unplanned. We hope that the participants enjoyed this event, learning something new, meeting new people, and exchanging ideas.
Thank you!
Ευχαριστώ!
TBnet Photo Competition
A big thank you to everyone who submitted entries to the World TB Day Photo Competition! We have received entries from within and outside of Europe reflecting the breadth of lived experience for both people who have lived with tuberculosis and those involved in their care. We will be announcing voting in a separate email soon, and would encourage everyone to take part. The winner will be announced in the next few weeks, and the three pictures with the highest votes will be displayed on the website.
UNITE4TB Annual Meeting in Uppsala
This month, TBnet attended the UNITE4TB Annual Meeting in Uppsala, Sweden. Graham Bothamley and Irina Kontsevaya represented TBnet at the meeting.
On the first day, we attended the UNITE4TB-ERA4TB Joint Symposium. The full-day meeting brought together both partnerships to strengthen the collaboration and address the status and future of treatments for tuberculosis. The topics both consortia cover were discussed, from biomarkers and model-informed pre-clinical and clinical drug development to datasets, data management, and community engagement.
Next two days we had the UNITE4TB Annual Consortium Meeting. Updates were provided on the overall status of the project, the achievements made to date, and the plans for the next year. We heard updates from all 12 Work Packages as well as advisory groups and relevant bodies. We also had keynote lectures and break-out sessions on topics related to the Consortium activities.
We were happy to meet the colleagues and discuss the project. Looking forward to continuing working together towards the goal of accelerating the development of new treatment regimens for tuberculosis!
A message from NTMnet: NTMnet Meeting in Barcelona
Thank you to all who participated in our NTMnet meeting at ESCMID Global, Barcelona – the first in-person meeting in quite some time.
During the meeting, we had a nice transition from the history of NTMnet to the ambitions for the future of NTMnet, as presented by Natalie Lorent and Jakko van Ingen.
Claire Andrejak presented an excellent keynote on the history of NTMnet, the state of NTM today, and future needs, highlighting the need for European collaborations on multicenter trials, a clinical register, guideline development, and discussing very difficult-to-treat cases.
Nils Wetzstein presented the revamped NTMnet website (https://www.ntmnet.org) and how to propose studies for evaluation and endorsement by NTMnet.
A short overview of the five current NTMnet study proposals was presented. Jakko van Ingen proposed investigating which antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed for the initial treatment of M. abscessuspulmonary disease. He also proposed a study to examine differences in symptom burdens of NTM-PD, as perceived by the patients, in different countries. Christoph Lange proposed to validate a symptom diary for patients with NTM as a treatment monitoring tool. Nils Wetzstein presented a study on the clinical relevance and treatment outcomes of less common NTMs across Europe using the NTMscope registry system and a similar study on disseminated NTM disease.
The ongoing study by Heinke Kunst and Mimi Malhotra aiming to understand the practice and management of NTM-PD in Europe was presented and is expected to close for participation shortly. We encourage everyone to participate by filling out the survey: https://forms.gle/vrpzVcfrMVp51HFt5
The focus areas of NTMnet for the coming years - facilitating research collaborations and supporting NTM-related educational purposes - were presented.
The meeting ended with an exciting discussion on several items of interest to NTMnet, such as funding opportunities, the unmet need for a prospective NTM registry integrating already existing national initiatives, and the potential for cooperation with ESGMYC and EURAID to establish a cohort for pragmatic trials.
Lastly, an M. chimaera outbreak has been reported in Germany. If any NTMnet members know of such cases, they are kindly requested to contact Margo Diricks.
Thank you to all for a stimulating meeting. All interested in sculpting the way forward are encouraged to contact us at info@ntmnet.org
NTMnet steering committee
Nils, Victor, Andreas & Natalie
Regional Meeting on Improving Access and Availability of Medicines for TB and DR-TB in Europe
The WHO Regional Office for Europe, jointly with the Federal Ministry of Health of Germany are organizing a regional meeting on Improving Access and Availability of Medicines for TB and DR-TB in Europe. The aim of this meeting it to assess priorities and progress and collectively work towards effective national and supranational solutions to enhance access and availability of medicines for TB and DR-TB.
Expected participants:
Representatives from the ministries of health, national drug regulatory authority and officers responsible for/coordinating the procurement and supply management of medicines
Representatives of the representatives from European institutions and agencies
Partner and civil society organizations
Date: Monday 03 (11.10 to 17.15) & Tuesday 04 (09.00 to14.30) June 2024
Venue: The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, Prinzessinnenstrasse 17-18, 10969 Berlin, Germany
Registration for remote participation: https://eurotb.net/AccesstoTBMedicines
Language: English
TBnet News
Editor – Irina Kontsevaya
Layout & formatting – Liga Rusmane
Cover picture – Irina Kontsevaya
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