The Department of Health announces full support
through a Department Memorandum endorsing the
conduct of preparatory activities of the BPaL OR
The Tropical Disease Foundation, Inc. (TDF), in collaboration with the National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) of the Department of Health (DOH), formally launched the LIFT-TB (Leveraging Innovation for Faster Treatment of Tuberculosis) Philippines Project on 18 December 2020 (9:00 – 11:00 AM) via zoom. It was participated by a total of 180 representatives from international and local partner agencies from across all levels of the NTP network. International participants included speakers and guests from TB Alliance (TBA), NY (Mr. Sandeep Juneja and Dr. Daniel Everitt), International Tuberculosis Research Center (ITRC), Korea (Dr. Unyeong Go) and KNCV, The Hague, Netherlands (Dr. Agnes Gebhard). The local counterparts were from the Department of Health, NTP Central Office, Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), Philippine Coalition Against TB (PhilCAT), TDF, Center for Health Development – NTP Coordinators, researchers and staff from the operational research sites, and advocates from civil society.
During the launch, Dr. Everitt and Mr. Tom Hiatt from the World Health Organization (WHO) provided the rationale of the BPaL regimen including results of the Nix-TB trial leading to WHO’s recommendation to use the regimen under operational research (OR) conditions.
DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje welcomed the DOH’s new partners in the fight against TB, particularly drug-resistant-TB through the LIFT-TB initiative. In her message during the launch, she said:
“We are delighted and excited with this new collaboration on conducting an operational research on this novel regimen recommended by WHO for patients with extensively drug-resistant TB, and patients with drug-intolerant and non-responsive MDR-TB. You have the full support of the DOH. We have issued a Department Memorandum on the conduct of preparatory activities for the implementation of the pilot study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the BPaL treatment regimen in the Philippines. The preparatory activities will include a project orientation, needs assessment of the 12 OR sites to ensure their readiness to conduct the OR and to secure the sites’ commitment through the assistance of colleagues in our sub-national offices, the Centers for Health Development. Once the protocol is approved by the Single Joint Research Ethics Board (SJREB), the DOH will issue another Department Memorandum to announce the commencement of the undertaking.”
Meantime, partners from ITRC, PBSP representing the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, TDF and KNCV gave insights on their support to the project. Dr Celine Garfin, NTP manager gave a brief background on the status of the Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant TB (PMDT) in the country and the role of BPaL in PMDT. Dr. Mamel Quelapio, LIFT-TB overall consultant discussed the status of the LIFT-TB BPaL initiative in the country. The Director of CHD-National Capital Region, Dr. Corazon Flores, the lead Principal Investigator in Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBL), Dr. Irene Flores, one of the OR site clinic physicians, Dr. Leslie Salon and an MDR-TB survivor, Mr. Manuel Bello, Jr. provided their perspectives on the potential impact of the OR to the management of MDR-TB and to improving the quality of life of patients.
International and local partners commit to support the NTP in implementing the BPaL Operational Research through LIFT-TB Philippines.The global LIFT-TB project is an initiative of TBA, a not-for profit organization based dedicated to finding faster-acting and affordable drug regimens to fight TB. Funded jointly by TBA and the Republic of Korea, through the Global Disease Eradication Fund (GDEF), LIFT-TB supports the operational research for the 6-month, all-oral, three-drug BPaL regimen composed of Bedaquiline, Pretomanid and Linezolid in countries most affected by multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), namely, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
In the Philippines, ITRC-Korea is the regional lead coordinating organization of the project in partnership with the TDF as the local coordinating organization. The OR will be implemented in 12 research sites from 10 regions in the country, led by the NTP and managed by a competent team of researchers from the JBL and the Lung Center of the Philippines.