Three students from the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia (FM UI) have won the CIOMS Annual Award for Medical Students 2021, for the best scientific article in the field of pharmacovigilance and research ethics. They are Gilbert Lazarus (FM UI student class of 2017), Kevin Tjoa (FM UI 2017), and Anthony William Brian Iskandar (FM UI 2017). The three students were mentored by lecturers from the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics FM UI, namely dr. Vivian Soetikno, PhD, SpFK and Dr. Melva Louisa, S.Si, M.Biomed.
The Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) is an international Non-Government Organization (NGO) formed by the UN agencies WHO and UNESCO in 1949. CIOMS specializes in medical research ethics, medical device development, and pharmacovigilance.
The students’ research was titled “The effect of human immunodeficiency virus infection on adverse events during treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis” on the effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on adverse events during treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients. The study was published in the journal PLOS One (Q1) on March 4, 2021.
“Our study aims to determine whether HIV infection affects the occurrence of side effects in the treatment of patients with drug-resistant Tuberculosis (DRTB). This attracted our attention because HIV is often also found in patients with DRTB, and also the treatment of DRTB patients is often not optimal due to the high incidence of side effects during treatment. Moreover, the high incidence of HIV and TB in Indonesia, which is the 2nd highest in Asia for TB and the 1st highest in Southeast Asia for HIV, further convinces us that this topic is important for us to explore,” said Gilbert Lazarus.
Gilbert further said, “From this study, we found that HIV infection increased the risk of side effects on DRTB treatment by 12%. However, we suspect that this effect is due to interactions between anti-TB drugs and anti-HIV drugs and not to HIV infection itself. In addition, we found that the effects of HIV were more pronounced in the side effects of hearing loss, kidney impairment, and depression.”
Gilbert hopes that the results of the study with his colleagues can help clinicians and stakeholders to determine what tests should be prioritized in HIV/DRTB patients. In addition, to re-emphasize the importance of pharmacovigilance in HIV/DRTB patients.
Vivian Soetikno expressed her pride in her students. “This is a great achievement for FM UI in the international arena. Their participation in raising the issue of the effect of HIV infection on the side effects of treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis patients, shows that the young Indonesians they represent, have attention to global health problems that are still faced by the Indonesian nation. Hopefully their achievements will inspire and motivate other FM UI academics to continue to make FM UI proud in the world,” he said.
