The freeBILy consortium annual meeting was held at the institute of our partner CERMEL, (Lambaréné, Gabon) from 14 to 15 February 2019. The meeting was attended by representatives from all consortium partners as well as invited guests from the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné. Also in attendance was Prof. Maria Yazdanbakhsh who is a member of the freeBILy External Advisory Board.
After a welcome address from Prof. Akim Adegnika, director of CERMEL, an update on project coordination activities was given by the Project Management Team from LUMC. All freeBILy partners were given the opportunity to provide updates with regard to their specific work packages. Time was also devoted to detailed discussions on the progress of the clinical trials in both Gabon and Madagascar. Partners from CERMEL shared an updated study set up, laboratory preparation activities as well as field site preparations. The project team from Madagascar gave an update on the study progress and also discussed laboratory and field site preparations. Both sites are ready and will start patient recruitment in the next month.