The StatinTB consortium aims at implementing a proof-of-concept clinical trial to evaluate whether atorvastatin, a widely used cholesterol-lowering drug, can be employed as a repurposed drug for host-directed drug therapy in tuberculosis.
During the meeting, the consortium discussed the clinical trial implementation, where significant progress related to recruitment of study participants was made during the past year, despite tremendous challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Another topic discussed during the meeting was recent results from the sample immunoassays and lab analysis, led by Dr Guler. In this context, Dr Guler presented his latest publication on new host-directed therapies targeting inflammatory tuberculosis granulomas which was recently published in Frontiers in Immunology (2021, 12: 733853).
The meeting also included a session focused on capacity building, which is a core pillar of the StatinTB project. Dr Gunar Günther and Dr Emmanuel Nepolo from the University of Namibia (UNAM) discussed past and future activities aimed at broadening the clinical trial capacities of UNAM’s Medical School.
The consortium’s stamina and flexible mindset in the past year has put the group in a good position to further advance the project in the coming months.