Community engagement in tuberculosis research: the EU-Patient-cEntric clinicAl tRial pLatforms (EU-PEARL) experience

Objectives Community representatives are key to ensuring that tuberculosis (TB) research is relevant, culturally sensitive, and appropriate. For all trials (new drugs or treatment regimens, diagnostics, or vaccines) this can result in improvement of recruitment, retention, and adherence to the trial schedule. The early engagement of the community will, later in time, support the process of implementation of new policies designed for successful products. We aim at developing a structured protocol for the early engagement of TB community representatives developed in the context of the EU-Patient-cEntric clinicAl tRial pLatforms (EU-PEARL) project. Design The EU-PEARL Innovative Medicine Initiative 2 (IMI2) project TB work package has developed a community engagement (CE) framework to ensure fair and efficient participation of the community in the design and implementation of TB clinical platform trials. Results We showed that early engagement of the EU-PEARL community advisory board highly contributes to the process of development of a community-acceptable Master Protocol Trial and Intervention-Specific Appendixes. We identified capacity building and training as major gaps in advancing CE in the TB field. Conclusion Developing strategies to address these needs can contribute to preventing tokenism and increase the acceptability and appropriateness of TB research.