The Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP) is part of UNITE4TB, a European project funded with 185 million euros by Horizon 2020, with the aim of accelerating the development of new solutions for the treatment of tuberculosis.
The project, which will last for 7 years, was officially launched on July 15th, 2021, under the Innovative Medicines Initiative – a public-private European Research & Development Consortium, which aims to promote the creation of new drugs to treat or prevent resistant bacterial infections.
The UNITE4TB team will join efforts to find new drugs that are able to treat patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis effectively, affordably, and quickly.
Note that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is considered a significant public health challenge, as it is resistant to at least two anti-tuberculous drugs that are crucial for its treatment – Isoniazid and Rifampicin. The lack of therapeutic options compromises the control of the disease and the cure of infected patients, making it difficult to interrupt the chain of transmission. UNITE4TB arises precisely to find new drugs to help treat this public health problem.
The role of ISPUP
Under the guidance of Raquel Duarte, ISPUP researcher and pneumologist, the Institute will be responsible for leading the “implementation, dissemination and communication” of the activities of the project, working closely with all its partners in order to reach the general public, patients/communities, healthcare professionals, and other relevant stakeholder groups.
As stated by the ISPUP researcher, “UNITE4TB is an important international research platform to fight tuberculosis. The various project partners will work together to conduct new clinical trials that will accelerate the development of therapeutic solutions for drug-susceptible and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, thus responding to an important need in this area of knowledge.”
“ISPUP will play an important role in the consortium as the main responsible for the dissemination and communication of the project, helping to lead the knowledge produced to the various project partners and to the community,” she concludes.
The consortium is made up of 30 institutions from 13 European Union countries, including academic institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises, public and pharmaceutical organizations.
For more information, consult the project website.
This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 101007873. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA, Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung e. V. (DZIF), and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU). EFPIA/AP contribute to 50% of funding, whereas the contribution of DZIF and the LMU University Hospital Munich has been granted by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Image: Unsplash/Robina Weermeijer
