Christian Lienhardt, from WHO, discusses the launch of TB-PACTS, the new data-sharing platform for TB clinical trials. This marks the beginning of an exciting new tool in the fight against TB. Announced on April 18th, TB-PACTS combines clinical trial data from Critical Path Institute (C-Path), the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), TB Alliance, and St. George’s, University of London. Hosted on the C-PATH website, it strives to standardize all Phase III tuberculosis clinical trial data. According to the website, “researchers can access and analyze data in aggregate, or filter and view individual patient-level data from the REMoxTB, RIFAQUIN and OFLUTUB clinical trials”.
TB-PACTS, which stands for TB-Platform for Aggregation of Clinical TB Studies, is accessible to researchers after registering an online application. The website informs users it may take up to 4 weeks for the application to be processed. Once registered users are able and encouraged to contribute data as well. The site assures users that they retain ownership of their data and that the platform is secure.
As Dr. Lienhardt discusses, having a larger database improves and refines the ability to analyze the data. It provides an increased sample size, an opportunity to perform analysis of specific populations, and an increased likelihood of finding commonalities that were not picked up in the single trials.
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