TASK is a multiple therapeutic clinical research institute, able to perform many services and complex clinical trials in a wide variety of therapeutic areas.
Our collective tacit knowledge gained over the 17 years of performing these complex trials provides us with a distinct advantage to tackle challenging projects.
Further, our world-class clinical trial sites are set up in various different communities in the Western Cape of South Africa, an area renown for first-world infrastructure in a third-world setting. This offers a unique trial experience, leveraging first-world infrastructures such as access to an excellent basic standard of medical care, high-speed internet, reliable air travel, and efficient logistics, against an informal community setting where the clinical research is respected and appreciated.
Our close link with these communities via various independent Community Advisory Boards (CABs) further sets us up with an advantage to recruit participants efficiently, having assisted lay a foundation of clinical and research literacy amongst those communities from which we recruit.
TASK is also a world-renowned research specialist in infectious diseases, most notably in tuberculosis, COVID-19 treatment, and vaccines, with various awards and accolades bestowed on our Principal Investigators over the years and several high-profile publications sharing our trial data.
Some of these can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Diacon+AH&sort=date
Most notably, several publications and numerous citations can be found in the New England Journal of Medicine. Similarly, TASK’s founder, Professor Andreas Diacon has been noted by the Bill and Melinda Gate’s Foundation as a ‘hero in the field’ for his contribution to TB drug development.
Of note, TASK is world-renowned for its Early Bacterial Activity (EBA) studies, where the efficacy of a novel antibiotic agent can be determined over a 14 -day period, thus saving a significant investment of time and resources in further progressing non-potential showing novelties through further clinical evaluation.
TASK has a depth of experience in many therapeutic areas.
Clinical evaluation is required in order for a new medical treatment, medical device, or vaccine to be made available for public use or be “market-ready”. Robust testing, mandated by governmental regulatory authorities and closely monitored by safety and ethics committees, takes place. This is what we refer to as clinical trials.
TASK performs clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of medical therapies by monitoring their effects on groups of volunteers. This includes medicines for the treatment of diseases and illnesses, vaccines, and medical devices.
This is usually performed on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and government-funded consortiums.
Testing occurs in four phases within the ‘in-human’ tier, these are usually displayed as Roman numerals and are for:
I. First-in-human dose-ranging for a safety determination
II. Testing on participants to assess efficacy and side effects
III. Testing of drugs on participants to assess efficacy, effectiveness, and safety
IV. Post-marketing surveillance in public
Before in-human testing can begin, laboratory or animal testing would be required. This is called pre-clinical evaluation.
Thus, TASK provides an essential step in progressing novelties forward, ultimately leading to better healthcare treatments being made available.
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