Shortening the Short Course of Tuberculosis Treatment

The role of Israeli researchers in the scientific literature regarding COVID-19 vaccines

BACKGROUND

The accurate and timely publication of scientific findings is a key component of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article explores the role of Israeli researchers in the scientific literature regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

METHODS

Content and bibliometric analysis of articles included in the Web of Science database regarding COVID-19 vaccines, that were published between January 2020 and June 2022.

RESULTS

The Web of Science includes 18,596 articles regarding COVID-19 vaccines that were published between January 2020 and June 2022. 536 (3%) of those articles had at least one Israeli author. These "Israeli articles" accounted for 11% of the NEJM articles on COVID-19 vaccines, 9% of such articles in Nature Medicine, and 4% of such articles in the Lancet. 80 of the 536 Israeli articles (15%) were recognized as "Highly Cited Papers" (articles that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year). Most of the Israeli Highly Cited Papers (HCPs) analyzed the safety and/or efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech (BNT162b2). Most of the Israeli HCPs made use of detailed and comprehensive individual data available from Israel's health plans, hospitals, or Ministry of Health. The 15% HCP rate (i.e., the number of HCPs divided by the number of all articles) for the Israeli articles was triple the HCP rate for all articles on COVID-19 vaccines (5%). A key factor contributing to Israel's prominent role in rapid publication of vaccination impact studies was Israel's being a world leader in the initial vaccination rollout, the administration of boosters, and the vaccination of pregnant women. Other contributing factors include Israeli researchers' access to well-developed electronic health record systems linking vaccinations and outcomes, the analytic strengths of leading Israeli researchers and research institutions, collaborations with leading research institutions in other countries, and the ability to quickly identify emerging research opportunities and mobilize accordingly. Recent developments in the priorities and selection criteria of leading journals have also played a role; these include an increased openness to well-designed observational studies and to manuscripts from outside of Europe and North America.

CONCLUSIONS

Israeli researchers, Israeli research institutions, and the Israeli government can, and should, take concrete steps to build upon lessons learned in the course of the recent surge of high-quality publications related to COVID-19 vaccines (such as the value of linking data across organizations). These lessons can be applied to a wide range of fields, including fields that go well beyond vaccines and pandemic responses.

Clinically encountered growth phenotypes of tuberculosis-causing bacilli and their in vitro study: A review

The clinical manifestations of tuberculosis (TB) vary widely in severity, site of infection, and outcomes of treatment-leading to simultaneous efforts to individualize therapy safely and to search for shorter regimens that can be successfully used across the clinical spectrum. In these endeavors, clinicians and researchers alike employ mycobacterial culture in rich media. However, even within the same patient, individual bacilli among the population can exhibit substantial variability in their culturability. Bacilli in vitro also demonstrate substantial heterogeneity in replication rate and cultivation requirements, as well as susceptibility to killing by antimicrobials. Understanding parallels in clinical, ex vivo and in vitro growth phenotype diversity may be key to identifying those phenotypes responsible for treatment failure, relapse, and the reactivation of bacilli that progresses TB infection to disease. This review briefly summarizes the current role of mycobacterial culture in the care of patients with TB and the ex vivo evidence of variability in TB culturability. We then discuss current advances in in vitro models that study heterogenous subpopulations within a genetically identical bulk culture, with an emphasis on the effect of oxidative stress on bacillary cultivation requirements. The review highlights the complexity that heterogeneity in mycobacterial growth brings to the interpretation of culture in clinical settings and research. It also underscores the intricacies present in the interplay between growth phenotypes and antimicrobial susceptibility. Better understanding of population dynamics and growth requirements over time and space promises to aid both the attempts to individualize TB treatment and to find uniformly effective therapies.

Cost Effectiveness of a Shorter Moxifloxacin Based Regimen for Treating Drug Sensitive Tuberculosis in India

Globally efforts are underway to shorten the existing 6-month tuberculosis (TB) treatment regimen for drug-sensitive patients, which would be equally effective and safe. At present, there is a lack of evidence on the cost implications of a shorter 4-month TB regimen in India. This economic modeling study was conducted in the Indian context with a high TB burden. We used a hybrid economic model comprising of a decision tree and Markov analysis. The study estimated the incremental costs, life years (LYs), and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained by the introduction of a Moxifloxacin-based shorter 4-month treatment regimen for pulmonary TB patients. The outcomes are expressed in incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) per QALYs gained. The cost per case to be treated under the 4-month regimen was USD 145.94 whereas for the 6-month regimen it was USD 150.39. A shorter 4-month TB regimen was cost-saving with USD 4.62 per LY and USD 5.29 per QALY. One-way sensitivity analysis revealed that the cost of the drugs for the 4-month regimen, hospitalization cost for adverse drug reactions, and human resources incurred for the 6-month regimen had a higher influence on the ICER. The probability sensitivity analysis highlighted that the joint incremental cost and effectiveness using QALY were less costly and more effective for 67% of the iteration values. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve highlights that the 4-month regimen was dominant to both patients and the National TB Elimination Programme in India as compared to the 6-month regimen at different cost-effectiveness threshold values.

Effectiveness of a digital medication event reminder and monitor device for patients with tuberculosis (SELFTB): a multicenter randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious disease worldwide. Trials evaluating digital adherence technologies for tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries are urgently needed. We aimed to assess whether a digital medication event reminder and monitor (MERM) device-observed self-administered therapy improves adherence and treatment outcomes in patients with tuberculosis compared with the standard in-person directly observed therapy (DOT).

METHODS

We did a two-arm, attention-controlled, effectiveness-implementation type 2 hybrid, randomized controlled trial in ten healthcare facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We included adults with new or previously treated, bacteriologically confirmed, drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis who were eligible to start anti-tuberculosis therapy. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive a 15-day tuberculosis medication supply in the evriMED500® MERM device to self-administer and return every 15 days (intervention arm) or visit the healthcare facilities each day to swallow their daily dose with DOT by healthcare providers (control arm). Both arms were followed throughout the standard two-month intensive treatment phase (2RHZE). For control participants, some provider-approved take-home doses might be allowed for extenuating circumstances in real-world practice. Data were collected on patient information (demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, social, and clinical information), medication adherence measures (MERM vs. DOT records, IsoScreenTM urine colorimetric isoniazid test, and adherence self-report), and clinical measures (pre-post treatment sputum Xpert MTB/RIF assay or microscopy, and adverse treatment outcomes). The intention-to-treat (ITT) primary endpoints were (1) individual-level percentage adherence over the two-month intensive phase measured by adherence records compiled from MERM device vs. DOT records that also considered all take-home doses as having been ingested and (2) sputum smear conversion following the standard two-month intensive phase treatment. Secondary endpoints were (1) individual-level percentage adherence over the two-month intensive phase measured by adherence records compiled from the MERM device vs. DOT records that considered all take-home doses as not ingested, (2) negative IsoScreen urine isoniazid test, (3) adverse treatment outcome (having at least one of the three events: treatment not completed; death; or loss to follow-up), and (4) self-reported adherence. The MERM device has an electronic module and a medication container that records adherence, stores medication, emits audible and visual on-board alarms to remind patients to take their medications on time and refill, and enables providers to download the data and monitor adherence.

RESULTS

Participants were enrolled into the study between 02 June 2020 and 15 June 2021, with the last participant completing follow-up on 15 August 2021. A total of 337 patients were screened for eligibility, of whom 114 were randomly assigned and included in the final analysis [57 control and 57 intervention participants]. Participants were 64.9% male, 15% with HIV, 10.5% retreatment, and 5.3% homeless. Adherence to TB medication was comparable between the intervention arm [geometric mean percentage (GM%) 99.01%, geometric standard deviation (GSD) 1.02] and the control arm [GM% 98.97%, GSD 1.04] and was within the prespecified margin for non-inferiority [mean ratio (MR) 1.00 (95% CI 0.99-1.01); p = 0.954]. The intervention arm was significantly superior to the control arm in the secondary analysis that considered all take-home doses in the control were not ingested [control GM% 77.71 (GSD 1.57), MR 1.27 (95% CI 1.33-1.43)]. Urine isoniazid testing was done on 443 (97%) samples from 114 participants; 13 participants had at least one negative result; a negative test was significantly more common among the control group compared with the intervention group [11/57 (19.3%) vs 2/57 (3.5%); p = 0.008]. There was no significant difference between the control and intervention arms for smear conversion [55 (98.2%) vs 52 (100%); p>0.999], adverse treatment outcomes [0 vs 1 (1.9%); p = 0.48], and self-report non-adherence [5 (8.9%) vs 1 (1.9%); p = 0.21].

CONCLUSIONS

In this randomized trial of patients with drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis, medication adherence among participants assigned to MERM-observed self-administered therapy was non-inferior and superior by some measures when compared with the standard in-person DOT. Further research is needed to understand whether adherence in the intervention is primarily driven by allowing self-administered therapy which reduced challenges of repeated clinic visits or by the adherence support provided by the MERM system. To avoid contributing to patient barriers with DOT, tuberculosis medical programs should consider alternatives such as medication event monitors.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04216420.