Hi Friends!!
I attended the
TB diagnostics in
India (From importation and imitation to innovation
In Bangalore last week (25th-26th
August), representing OSDD at the conference.
It was a wonderful experience to
meet over 200 delegates from Industries, Public and Education sector, from around
the globe under one roof at St.Johns hospital (beautiful campus and
auditorium).
The First day Session started
with the Global scenario of spread of tuberculosis and the problems in overcoming
this disease. Firstly, the problem is that, the Public Health Centres (PHC) fail
to reach the patients. Patients thus, they seek treatment from private health centres.
Secondly, India is densely populated so the Public and Private sectors must
work together to bring some effective change in the number of patients, which
we see ever increasing on India’s TB graph. Lucica Ditiu, Exec. Secretary, Stop
TB Partnership, said that India also needs to feel the responsibility to help
other needy nations who are struggling to fight TB. Thirdly, Dr.Soumya
Swaminathan, NIRT, said the problem is that we do not reach to the grass root
level to the people to help them fighting against tuberculosis.
Funding:
One of the main problems which were
realized by all is that there is a constant need of Funding and support from
various agencies around the globe. Peter Small from BMGF, said that we need to
look at the hindrances underlying funding for tuberculosis research. Jay Menon
from Xprize foundation said that there is scope for introducing incentive prize
model in the development of tuberculosis. Nandita Chopra from NIH said that
there are five new announcements on the grants for tuberculosis on their
website. VS Chahuan from ICGEB said that government is ready to fund for
tuberculosis if there is a proper research model put forwarded to them.
Concluding on this issue, Madhukar Pai said that there is need of common portal
where all the announcements on tuberculosis funding can be done. In this way,
all the working groups/companies working on TB will get updated in a real time.
Market:
In the following sessions, the
private companies came up with the issue of the market feasibility in working
for tuberculosis diagnostics and tuberculosis as whole. Camila Rodrigues from
Hinduja Hospital Mumbai said that, often the patients are not diagnosed
properly and given any antibiotics, which further leads to resistant tb. Caroline
Bogren from GDF said that, there is no guarantee given to the patient about the
quality of drugs they receive, there is a poor regulation in the pharmacy
sector in India. There has to be a Standard treatment guideline, so that the correct
diagnosis and treatment can be followed. The discussion panel also said that
there is a need to build a Cheaper Efficient Fast and Portable Tuberculosis diagnosis
tool, to reach to the mass. The High end diagnostics also play a major role in
diagnosis, but for the first line of diagnosis there has to be a efficient and
cheaper tool.
Education & Research:
On both the days of the meet,
there were discussions on how to bring down the costs in research and to accelerate
the innovations. Education and Industries need to come up together to bring in
innovations in tb diagnostics. Education sector has the fresh talent and enthusiasm
to work for a challenge. It was quoted in the meeting that, Indian Education
sector needs to have its own niche rather than trying to replicate foreign
system of development in education. The
huge gap between innovation and research needs to be filled by the collaboration
of industries with the academia.
However there are certain
limitations to overcome such as, Industries need to define what kind of
expertise they need from the academics. Students should be given credits in the
form of publishing the research work. To this, I spoke about the existing
Academic-Industry-Government research model which already exists for the
tuberculosis drug research by CSIR. Open Source Drug Discovery a consortium led
by CSIR and funded by Govt of India is a best epitome of how collaborative
research can work wonders. Where in people connect via social networking sites
and do collaborative and quality work in limited time. This discussion was
further supported by Dr.Anu Aacharya from Ocimum biosloutions.
The two day conference ended with
discussions about involvement of media in spreading awareness and combating the
disease.
Links:
I am giving the links to the PowerPoint
presentations given at the conference
on Twitter: #tbdx2011 and #tbdm2011
Acknowledgment
To,
Director: Zakir Thomas, Open Source Drug
Discovery (for giving me opportunity to represent OSDD) www.osdd.net
Chairperson: Madhukar Pai (thanks
so much for inviting me for the conference)
Thanks to all whom I met at the conference
for friendly and encouraging interaction.
We shall Work Hard to ERRADICATE
TUBERCULOSIS
Smiles J
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Following is the brief note from
Madhukar Pai on the conference:
Discussions during the conference (and
subsequently) has outlined several areas (and needs) that require follow-up and
some coordinated action:
1. Industry folks and academics expressed a need for
clearly defined target product profiles (TPPs) on what type of TB tests need to
be developed for various indications (active TB, latent TB, MDR-TB,
extrapulmonary disease, point-of-care testing, etc.) and what the performance
benchmarks ought to be.
2. In particular, they seemed keen to know exactly what
the RNTCP perceives as their biggest diagnostic needs, and how new products get
endorsed and scaled-up with the programme.
3. While the business case analysis by McKinsey was very
valuable and timely, it is clear that a more fleshed out, in-depth analysis is
required, and would be greatly appreciated by the industry. We have noted all
the suggestions that were made on how such an analysis can be refined.
4. Other specific needs that came up were: 1) TB specimen
banks or standardized panels for validation studies; 2) list of possible
sources of funding for TB innovations; 3) methodological advice on how to
conduct validation and demonstration studies for WHO endorsement; 4) advice on
WHO prequalification for TB diagnostics; 5) guidance on what quality standards
to meet.
5. Companies, especially those not working in TB, seem to
want “mentorship” or technical advice on TB, and it is not clear who they can
approach for issues specific to TB. When and how should companies engage with
the RNTCP for advice, possible endorsement or evaluation?
6. As more TB products get developed, it is not clear
which agency or organization can conduct head-to-head validation studies to
identify the best products for scale-up.
7. Which agency or organization should take on a
convening role to pull together key stakeholders that make up the complete
value chain for TB innovations in India? Who can serve as the “honest broker”
to bring stakeholders together (“match-making”)? How can we increase
governmental participation to support TB innovations, especially since more
governmental funds are now available for R&D? How can industry bodies such
as CII and ABLE facilitate this?
8. Can similar efforts to engage industry and
stakeholders be made in other BRICS countries, especially China and Brazil?
9. What sorts of innovative
delivery models will be needed to drive access to innovative diagnostics, and
how can we get the private sector to play a bigger role in TB control?
10. How
can we engage Indian celebrity/philanthropic individuals and groups to raise
awareness about TB, and to specifically raise resources for TB innovations
(e.g. for an India TB Diagnostics Prize)? What role can media and civil society
play in supporting this?
Clearly, there are no easy solutions, and our
conference was merely a first step in this direction. Do send us suggestions on
how to address the needs identified.
We take this chance to point out some resources
that might be particularly helpful:
2. The “Evidence-based TB Diagnosis” website provides
access to information on all current TB tests, new diagnostics pipeline,
systematic reviews of test accuracy, WHO guidelines, research agendas, etc.: www.tbevidence.org
We take this chance to thank all our partners and sponsors;
special thanks to St John’s Research Institute for the excellent
conference facility, logistics and support.
We thank you again for your contribution and
enthusiastic participation. We succeeded in bringing together a large number of
stakeholders and hope the spark has been lit. Much more needs to be done, and
we hope all of you will continue to stay engaged.
Best regards
Madhukar Pai & John Kenneth
Conference Co-Chairs
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PUSHPDEEP MISHRA
In between 7 billion of us, when i wake up and i am still breathing, i feel what kind of element am we are made up of to be alive and lively in this bigggg universe... Its truly a miracle to be living each second and to feel and observe the things in motion.. An organized but still a random sequence of events occur daily. This enigmatic and enchanting experience which i feel daily, see daily.. Just one sentence fits into my definition of Life... Life is a Gift!!! and its Beautiful .. :) :) :) 
