UCL-TB to host WHO drug-resistant TB database

Dr Lele Rangaka and Professor Angela Crook of the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL (MRC CTU) have been awarded a 5 year contract by the WHO Global TB Programme, to host a database platform which integrates DR-TB-IPD from different studies from around the world. This has just been announced in a WHO Newsflash.

The project is based on the premise that combining high quality datasets, so that they can be analysed together, will provide better evidence for optimal treatment for this complicated health issue, and will add value to data that already exists.  

This platform was housed since 2008 at McGill University and grew to include data from ~10,000 TB patients, and its success was to a great extent due to the dedication and leadership of Dr Dick Menzies.  This year the WHO Global TB Programme relaunched the database and the way it will share data, put this contract out to tender, and selected UCL as data curators for the next 5 years.  They have also put out a call for new datasets to bring into the shared resource.  The data will remain the property of the contributors.

The data will be housed in the UCL Data Safe Haven which ensures confidentiality and integrity of the data, and will be managed by Dr Stella Fabiane of the MRC CTU, who is experienced at handling drug-resistant TB clinical trial data.  Dr Neil Stoker from the UCL Centre for Clinical Microbiology in the Division of Infection & Immunity will be the Asset Administrator, and will act as first point of contact.

A key part of the project will be open and equitable access to the data. Once the data has been transferred to UCL, researchers will be able to make a request for access to some or all of the data, with approval being given through an Oversight Committee consisting mainly of representatives of the Data Owners, but with input from WHO and the UCL team.

More information about the resource is available on the UCL-TB website.