The global platform study "Staphylococcus aureus Network Adaptive Platform" (SNAP) has been successfully launched in Germany. In this project, clinics within and outside the Specialised Network Infections (SNID), which is part of the Network University Medicine (NUM), are cooperating. The study is investigating various drug treatments to reduce morbidity and mortality in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia(SAB). The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus causes most infection-related deaths worldwide. Treatment is complex and usually requires hospitalisation, administration of antibiotics and careful monitoring. Various antibiotic therapies are used around the world without clear evidence as to which is the best. The SNAP study aims to close this gap.
The SNAP study is a randomised, multifactorial, adaptive platform study (REMAP design) embedded in everyday clinical practice. With over 5,000 patients already recruited worldwide, it is the largest clinical trial ever conducted on Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia. It is being conducted under the leadership of the University of Melbourne and coordinated in Europe by the Universitair Medisch Centrum Utrecht. Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg is coordinating the German study centres.
NUM study centres have also been actively involved in the SNAP study for the past six months. Three German centres have so far included patients in the interventional SNAP platform study and the SNAP register. Eight further study centres are in the starting blocks. A total of nineteen German study centres are planned.
Within the platform study, different interventions (such as the administration of different antibiotics) can be investigated in parallel or consecutively. The adaptive study design enables the continuous development of new study arms to answer relevant questions. Two study questions are currently being investigated in parallel:
- Which basic antibiotic is more suitable for MRSA bacteraemia?
- Can antibiotic therapy be switched from intravenous administration to tablets after 7 or 14 days?
Next year, the Infection Medicine Study Network, led by the Freiburg University Medical Centre, is planning a new study arm to investigate the additional administration of the antibiotic fosfomycin.
The SNAP study in Germany is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Ministry of Science, Energy, Climate Protection and the Environment (MWU) of Saxony-Anhalt as part of the NUM.
Link to the study: www.snaptrial.com.au
Contact person
Prof. Dr Achim Kaasch
Jana Butzmann
Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
Faculty of Medicine
Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene
E-mail: achim.kaasch@med.ovgu.de