Upcoming EARNEST Meetings
The EARNEST Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) will meet via telephone conference on 15thApril 2013. This meeting will be followed by two face-to face meeting taking place in Kampala, Uganda, namely an EARNEST Investigators’ Meeting (1stto 2ndMay 2013) and an EARNEST Trial Steering Committee (TSC) Meeting (3rdMay 2013).
The first EARNEST participants has exited the EARNEST trial
The first EARNEST participant has exited the trial on 17th January 2013. Congratulations for completing 144 weeks of follow-up! We would like to thank all EARNEST participants for their dedication to the study and for making EARNEST a success!
EARNEST 2012 IDMC Meetings
The EARNEST Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) reviews both clinical information and immunological information during the trial to ensure that HIV disease is well controlled in those trial participants that do not receive the current standard of care. The IDMC has met twice in 2012, namely on 16th July and on 07th September 2012. At those meetings, the IDMC found no reasons to stop the trial. The IDMC will continue to meet until the end of the trial, and at each meeting they will have more information on which to make a comparison. Their next meeting is scheduled for April 2013.
EARNEST 2012 TSC Meetings
The EARNEST Trial Steering Committee (TSC) met three times in 2012. The first meeting was a face-to-face meeting held in Kampala, Uganda on 15th February 2012. This meeting was followed by meetings via telephone conference on 04th September and 4th December 2012. We would like to thank members of the EARNEST TSC for their indispensible input.
Expansion of the EARNEST TSC, January 2012
The EARNEST Trial Steering Committee (TSC) has recently been expanded and now includes thirteen members, seven of which are completely impendent of the EARNEST trial. The expertise from the different members of the TSC varies from clinical expertise to invaluable experience in public health and community work. The knowledge and experience shared among the different members of the TSC has been extremely beneficial to the trial.
EARNEST Investigators' Meeting, 13th-14th February 2012
A very interactive 2 day Investigators’ Meeting was held in Kampala, Uganda from 13th to 14th February 2012. It was the first meeting since EARNEST was closed to recruitment and served to discuss baseline data, all aspects associated with follow-up in EARNEST, after trial issues, EARNEST networking and capacity activities and substudies that are being conducted as part of the EARNEST trial. The meeting was attended by representatives from all EARNEST sites, EARNEST monitors and European collaborators. We thank all of you for your great contributions and are looking forward to seeing you again in 2013.
EARNEST Recruitment Closed on 29 April 2011
We are pleased to announce that recruitment into EARNEST closed on midnight on Friday, 29 April 2011. At the time an impressive 1277 patients had been enrolled into EARNEST.
Trial Steering Committee (TSC) Meeting, 30 March 2011
A EARNEST TSC telephone conference was held on Wednesday, 30 March 2011 to review the progress of the trial. The TSC was very pleased that over 1000 patients had been recruited to date and congratulated all sites for this major achievement
1000th Patient Randomised on Tuesday, 29 March 2011
EARNEST has passed the next major recruitment barrier and over 1000 patients have been recruited to date.
Congratulations to the team at Nsambya Hospital, Kampala and to everyone who has contributed to us reaching this important milestone. We have just 200 patients left to recruit and are postive that the target of 1200 patients will be met by end of April.
International Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) Meeting, March 2011
An IDMC telephone conference was held on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 to carry out the first review of the progress of the trial, including review of the interim data. In addition to the IDMC members the open session was also attended by the country principal investigators or their representatives and the chief investigator.
800th Patient Randomised on Tuesday, 22 February 2011
We are pleased to announce the 800th patient was recruited into the trial on Tuesday, the 22nd of February 2011 at IDI, Uganda - Congratulations to the site for helping the trial achieve another important milestone.
600th Patient Randomised on Thursday, 16 December 2010
The 600th patient was recruited into the trial on Thursday, 16 December 2010 at JCRC Gulu, Uganda - Congratulations to the site for helping the trial reach this important milestone.
EARNEST Investigator's Meeting, December 2010
A productive 2 day meeting was held on 7th and 8th December in Entebbe, Uganda with representatives from all EARNEST sites, including representatives from the new sites at Eldoret (Kenya), Mzuzu (Malawi) and Lusaka (Zambia) and from the new JCRC sites in Kakira, Kabale and Gulu (all Uganda). There were in total around 60 attendees which made for lively and interesting discussions. All new sites provided overview presentations of their sites and valuable discussions were held on trial achievements, screening and recruitment strategies, clinical cases, events and substudies. Ideas for capacity building and networking were explored and plans for the analysis of baseline data were put forward. We thank all investigators, trial managers and other members of site staff for taking part in the meeting, and look forward to the next meeting in late 2011.
EARNEST Investigator and TSC Meetings, 28-30 April 2010
Representatives from the different sites, monitors and European collaborators were meeting in Harare from the 28th to the 29th of April to discuss progress and recruitment issues, trial procedures, protocol issues, EARNEST substudies and the networking and capacity building activities. Furthermore, as part of the investigator meeting a short workshop on second-line therapy was conducted. More than 50 participants were attending the meeting and it was the first time that the trial managers and monitors of the different sites were able to meet.
The first EARNEST Trial Steering Committee (TSC) meeting was held after the investigator meeting (30 April 2010).
First Patient Randomised on Monday, 12 April 2010
On Monday, the 12th of April the first patient was randomised into EARNEST. We would like to congratulate the JCRC Kampala site for this significant achievement.
EARNEST Site Initiation Visits, 20 November 2009 to 04 December 2009
From 20th of November to the 4th of December the sites in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Uganda were visited by members of the MRC EARNEST team. During these visits site staff was trained on trial-related procedures and the readiness of each site to conduct the EARNEST study was assessed.
EARNEST Launch Meeting, Kampala, Uganda, 22-23 September 2009
The launch meeting of the EARNEST trial was held in Kampala, Uganda on the 22nd and 23rd of September 2009. Key investigators and site personnel from all eight sites, as well as representatives from the Sponsor and from European collaborators were invited to this meeting.
