On June 2, Arcady founder, Bruce Thomas, was privileged to present to over 100 attendees at “Making Cough Count: A TB Cough Consultation,” an event convened by Drs. Peter Small and Puneet Dewan, with the support of GH Labs. Peter framed the opportunity as follows: “Cough is a common manifestation of TB, and yet it is never actually measured. Advances in machine learning have made cough quantifiable, and have the potential to make cough diagnostic, offering the opportunity to improve patient care, public health, and pharmaceutical product development.”
The attendees, TB innovators, digital product developers, data scientists, global health funders and policy/advocacy organizations, discussed ongoing research for cough as a biomarker of tuberculosis and identified actionable steps to implement, evaluate, and scale emerging cough-related tools for use in high TB burden regions. In his presentation, Bruce shared work done by global partners (including TB REACH, Unitaid, WHO, Global Drug Facility, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) with digital adherence technologies as a case study in the rapid innovation, evaluation, and scale of TB-related digital tools. His question to the attendees — why can’t we follow this proven effective “fast track” to bring cough-related tools to similarly rapid, global scale?