Funding

ENDxTB is a research project funded by the The National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number U01AI152075 and will receive $7,500,000 between June 2020 and January 2026. The project is part of the global TrENDxTB study which receives over USD 11 Mio including EUR 3,291,740 from the second European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP2).

The project idea was developed in response to the NIH’S “FEND for TB” call Funding Opportunity Announcement, calling for initiatives that would assess the Feasibility of Novel Diagnostics for TB in endemic countries. The objective of this call was to support the evaluation of early-stage diagnostics and novel diagnostic strategies for TB in the context of existing clinical algorithms in the countries that are strongly affected by the disease. Specifically, the NIH was looking for projects which would: 1) perform proof-of principle studies of novel diagnostic tests and strategies and 2) provide feedback to diagnostic developers on the performance of the technologies and most effective strategies for use of the diagnostic technologies in an endemic setting.

In addition to ENDxTB, two other FEND projects were selected for funding and are now being implemented:

FEND-TB

Full title: Feasibility of Novel Diagnostics for TB in Endemic Countries

Coordinator: Jerrold Ellner (Rutgers), Susan Dorman (MUSC) and David Alland (Rutgers)

Lead Organization: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

R2D2 Network

Full Title: Rapid Research in Diagnostics Development for TB Network

Coordinator: Adithya Cattamanchi (UCSF), Claudia Denkinger (Heidelberg) and Payam Nahid (UCSF)

Lead Organization: University of California, San Francisco

The three initiatives are being supported by a joint Scientific Advisory Board and are working together towards their common goal of significantly improving TB diagnostics.