COMBACTE Adds a New Project to its Consortium: COMBACTE-CDI

The COMBACTE consortium announces the addition of COMBACTE-CDI as a new project. The project aims to develop a detailed understanding of the epidemiology and clinical impact of Clostridium difficile infection across Europe. The ultimate goal is to contribute to improved treatment options for patients suffering from such infections that are responsible for extensive morbidity, mortality and health care costs.
 
The 3-year COMBACTE-CDI project merges European expertise on clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic issues related to C. difficile infection (CDI). It brings together experts that previously have partnered in large international CDI projects, the largest existing IMI-funded clinical and laboratory networks in Europe for execution of challenging epidemiological and interventional studies (incl. those caused by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria) and a network mapping all European surveillance activities related to antimicrobial resistance. The total budget of COMBACTE-CDI, in which eight academic and research organizations will collaborate with six EFPIA members, is € 4,582,218 million and the project is scheduled to start in November 2017.
 
Prof. dr. Marc Bonten, head of the Department of Medical Microbiology at University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands) and academic lead of the COMBACTE program: "The inclusion of a specific project on CDI in COMBACTE fills a notable gap. COMBACTE-CDI will provide important data on the extent of CDI in Europe, and in particular across the whole healthcare economy. It is an ideal platform to extend our knowledge of this key infection, and ultimately to help with the development of better management modalities. The public-private partnership of academy and industry that underpins COMBACTE and COMBACTE-CDI are particularly attractive to deliver these aims".
 
Charles Knirsch, Vice President, Vaccines Clinical Research and Development at Pfizer, which is leading the EFPIA member consortium on the project: “We look forward to this project helping to further understanding of the epidemiology and impact of CDI infections, which we hope will ultimately prove beneficial for patients in Europe and around the world.”
 

Clostridium difficile infection

CDI is one of the most prevalent healthcare-associated infections, affecting both hospitalized patients and individuals in the community. It is a major cause of diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions such as colitis. CDI poses an extensive burden of morbidity, mortality and healthcare resource utilization, and so requires effective prevention and management strategies. There is a lack of robust, comprehensive data on the impact of CDI across countries in Europe. Furthermore, large variations in the frequency of testing and the accuracy of CDI diagnostics mean that the size of the problem is probably underestimated.