A clinical trial testing two new therapeutic vaccines, one developed by IDRI (Infectious Disease Research Institute) and another by Archivel Farma, was given the green light to proceed at the inaugural meeting of the STriTuVad (In Silico Trial for Tuberculosis) consortium held recently in New Delhi, India.
The consortium is focused on demonstrating how advanced computer modelling and simulation can be used to reduce the costs of clinical trials to test the efficacy of new therapies for tuberculosis. The project is funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 program and by the Department of Biotechnology of the Indian Ministry of Science & Technology. Led by Etna Biotech in Italy, the consortium includes some of the leading researchers in this field, including IDRI; Universita Degli Studi Di Cantania and the University of Bologna in Italy; the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, Archivel Farma in Spain; Stichting Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative I the Netherlands and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in India.
The inaugural meeting offered the opportunity to outline the objectives of the project, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in addressing health concerns in India which, in turn, could become global challenges. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases: one third of the world’s population, mostly in developing countries, is infected with TB. There is now a growing awareness that TB can only be effectively fought by working globally, starting with countries like India, where the infection is endemic.
