The kick-off meeting was attended by the representatives of the 14 partner institutions
February 28, 2019
Last week, on February 19-20, the EMPIRICAL project was launched during a two-day kick-off meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, with the aim of improving treatment for pneumonia in HIV-infected infants. 14
The project is funded by European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP) and is coordinated by consortium member Servicio Madrileño de Salud (SERMAS) – Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre. The action, entitled “Empirical treatment against cytomegalovirus and tuberculosis in severe pneumonia in HIV-infected infants: a randomized controlled clinical trial” (in short EMPIRICAL), is part of the EDCTP2 Programme supported by the European Union and aims to evaluate whether empirical treatment against cytomegalovirus and tuberculosis improves survival of HIV-infected infants with severe pneumonia.
The launch meeting was attended by the representatives of the 14 partner institutions involved in this ambitious project and the representative of the EDCTP. Various items were discussed on the agenda over a productive 2 days: key objectives of the Kick- off meeting included securing partner consensus on the vision, mission and operational plan for EMPIRICAL, as well as defining roles, expectations, and the project timeline. Penta will have the role as project partner lead for Regulatory & Ethics issues, and Communications dissemination. The meeting also included a site visit to the University Teaching Hospital – Children’s Hospital.
The event proved highly fruitful, providing a special opportunity for all project partners to touch base. The key points of the project were discussed and a strategy for the coming years has taken shape.
About the project
EMPIRICAL started on 1st February 2019 with a budget of €7,680,618.75 and will run for a total of five years. The consortium includes the following institutions: University of Lincoln (UK), Stichting Katholieke Universiteit- Radboudumc (The Netherlands), Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (France), Programme PACCI (Cote d’Ivoire), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), HerpeZ Limited (Zambia), Fundación Privada Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona (Spain), Université de Bordeaux (France), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine/Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, (UK) Centro de Investigacao em Saude de Manhica (Mozambique), Penta Foundation (Italy), Eduardo Mondlane University/Hospital Central de Maputo (Mozambique).
The chief investigator of the project is Dr. Pablo Rojo from Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre. He will coordinate the project with the collaboration of Dra. Cinta Moraleda, Dr. Alfredo Tagarro and Dr. Luis Prieto.
