TBpeople Presents, Supported by TB Alliance

The Leveraging Innovations for Faster Treatment of Tuberculosis (LIFT -TB) Project is a multi-country initiative of TB Alliance in collaboration with the International TB Research Center (ITRC) and the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation (KNCV). The project provides technical support for operational research (OR), policy development, capacity building, training, and planning for scale up of the BPaL regimen in seven countries. It is funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and TB Alliance.  ITRC is the lead organization coordinating the project in the Philippines in close collaboration with the Tropical Disease Foundation (TDF) as the local partner organization.

BPaL is a six-month, all-oral, three-drug treatment regimen that is used to treat people with highly drug-resistant forms of pulmonary TB. It consists of TB Alliance’s antibiotic pretomanid, along with two other antibiotics; bedaquiline and linezolid. Phase 3 clinical trial results of TB Alliance’s Nix-TB trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine have indicated a treatment success rate of approximately 90%. First approved in 2019, the treatment has received marketing authorisation from multiple stringent regulatory authorities, including the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the regimen under operational research conditions. Today, approximately 28 countries have procured the product and are or will soon be providing it to patients under OR conditions. These countries include Ghana, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

With LIFT-TB’s support, the Philippines recently started enrolling patients in the BPaL OR. The primary objective of this OR is to estimate the effectiveness and safety of the BPaL regimen in MDR/RR-TB patients with additional flouroquinolone resistance and MDR-TB patients with documented treatment intolerance or failure. Secondary objectives include time to culture conversion, and assessment of the TB recurrence rates at 6- and 12-months post-treatment completion. This OR will enroll 100 patients over a period of two (2) years at 12 sites in the Philippines and inform national scale up decisions.

TBPeople Philippines Organization aims to disseminate information about treatment options for drug-resistant forms of TB, including the BPaL Regimen. The objective is to inform, educate, and disseminate accurate, evidence-backed information for key stakeholders, including medical practitioners as well as patients, survivors, TB advocates, and families. TBPeople Philippines will engage with 12 regional representatives, who are themselves survivors, patients, caregivers, and healthcare workers. Each of the 12 regional representatives will be assigned to one of the 12 BPaL OR sites and disseminate information about DR-TB treatment in the respective catchment area. This is a 12-month engagement and includes the following activities:

  • Training of the regional representatives on several topics on DR-TB treatment and care, including treatment options and possible side effects,
  • Development of DR-TB treatment literacy materials such as digital flyers and video content that explain these topics in layman’s terms for patients, their families, and affected communities,
  • Hosting of the online sessions on these topics in 8 dialects spoken in the regions where 12 OR sites are located, and
  • Creation of contents on DR-TB treatment literacy and hosting of literacy materials on TBPeople Philippines’ website

By using local dialects, regional representatives will be able to effectively share information about treatment options to the affected communities in all regions of the country.

Additional Information:
TB Alliance LIFT-TB
LIFT-TB Philippines Launching
About TB Alliance

TB Alliance LIFT-TB Representatives

  1. Agnes Ferrer (Region I)
  2. Lheyna Dulnuan Binlayan (Region I)
  3. Ruzzeth Joy Muñoz (Region III)
  4. Roxanne Rodriguez (Region III)
  5. Danica Duran (Region IV)
  6. RJ Ablen Soriao (Region V)
  7. Lorelyn Ajero (Region V)
  8. Leo Rey Tejares (Region VI)
  9. Miarmy L. de Leon (Region VII)
  10. Jocelyn Fernandez (Region IX)
  11. Kingrey Panoy (Region X)
  12. Victor Tudtud (Region XI)
  13. Mimi Ortillana (NCR)
  14. Niño Magpusao (NCR)