Finding the Optimal Regimen for Mycobacterium Abscessus Treatment

Mycobacterium abscessus (MABS) are a group of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) found in water and soil habitats that exhibit high levels of intrinsic multi-drug resistance. They are recognised opportunistic human pathogens capable of causing chronic pulmonary disease (MABS-PD), predominantly in individuals with underlying inflammatory lung diseases.

Finding the Optimal Regimen for Mycobacterium abscessus Treatment (FORMaT) is an iterative, standing, platform trial with innovative and adaptive properties that evaluate and develop the optimal combinations of therapies for children and adults with MABS-PD to clear MABS infection with acceptable tolerance. We will use these opportunities afforded by the clinical trial platform to establish discovery studies to: (i) understand the effects of disease and treatment on health-related quality of life, (ii) determine cost effectiveness of interventions, (iii) optimise pharmacokinetic drug dosing, (iv) understand susceptibility to MABs-PD, (v) develop biomarkers of clinical disease, (vi) investigate genomics of MABs strains causing MABs-PD and development of antimicrobial resistance.

FORMaT provides a pragmatic design to address challenges to develop an evidence base for the first time for MABS-PD. Initially, the trial has been designed to test therapies that are currently the basis for treatment guidelines for MABS-PD. The trial has the capacity to add new treatments and to eliminate therapies because of futility as they either lack efficacy or cause unacceptable toxicity. Novel therapeutic approaches are then tested against the previously determined optimal approaches, thus leading in an iterative fashion to improve microbiological clearance, and health outcomes associated with MABS-PD. The trial is designed as a series of trials within the main trial to enable investigation of the different phases of treatment; intensive (intravenous treatment phase) and consolidation (oral and or inhaled treatment phase) based on clinical guidelines. The primary outcome for each trial is microbiological clearance with clinical tolerance (Grade 1 or 2) based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 5). This enables subjects to continue in the trial even if tolerance is poor or they change treatments in a specific phase of the trial as those events contribute to the primary outcome determination.