COMBACTE’s Last General Assembly

During its last General Assembly, study progress and preliminary results were shared from NET and CARE. The first part of the day presentations from the NET project took place.The team from CHU Limoges presented the lessons learned and best practices from a PMO perspective.

“The participation of academic leaders, who were involved from the earliest stages of protocol design, and the strong collaboration with EFPIA partners are the most important points that can be highlighted to date: strategic discussions and decision-making have been largely collective.

Collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, from clinical departments to laboratories, has also enabled the acquisition of new skills and the consolidation of networks considered today as the four pillars of COMBACTE, and now of Ecraid (CLIN-, STAT-, LAB- & EPI-Net)” says Dr. Bruno François, lead of the CHU Limoges Project Team.

COMBACTE is finally 10 years of wonderful encounters and memories. We need to keep that in mind, and move forward positively with Ecraid.”

This was followed by work package updates from WP6A, WP6E, WP7B, WP9 and WP10. The series of presentations was concluded by highlights and milestones from the Communications department. 

The second part of the presentations focused on COMBACTE-CARE. This involved work packages 1A, 1B, and 2B.

The overall feeling was that despite encountering unforeseen challenges, such as study complexities, or the COVID-19 pandemic, the study teams’ resilience shone brightly. Through effective communication and collaboration, these challenges were turned into opportunities for growth, refining problem-solving skills and fostering a spirit of camaraderie.

The event was concluded with IHI Scientific Project Manager Nathalie Seigneuret reflecting on COMBACTE-NET and COMBACTE-CARE:

“Despite many challenges faced by COMBACTE, that confirm still the diverse challenges encountered in developing new agents against AMR, including the scientific complexities, the consortia have successfully managed over the years to build trust, break silos, bring the next generation of scientists and establish a novel model of collaboration between the academic and the private sectors, thereby contributing to create more efficient and effective pathways to develop promising innovative new agents. The significant results delivered by the projects have put light on Europe as it becomes more attractive for conducting clinical studies notably thanks to set up of high quality clinical and laboratory networks. Importantly as the projects come to an end, these networks will continue to grow through Ecraid“.

COMBACTE’s primary goal was to meet the challenges of clinical development of antibacterials in response to the worldwide growing problem of antibiotic resistance.

COMBACTE-CARE will be ending 1st of July. COMBACTE-NET will be the last of COMBACTE’s projects that will conclude its activities and mandate in October 2023.