The Research, Innovation and Development Trust (RIDT) at the University of Malta has sealed an agreement with internationally renowned producer of gluten free products, Dr. Schaer, based in Italy’s South Tyrol region, since 1981. The agreement will see the financing of a study to determine the frequency of coeliac disease in the adult Maltese population, using a point of care testing kit. Additionally, the study will also focus on faecal microbiota composition in newly-diagnosed coeliac patients.
The three-year long study will recruit a randomised cohort of healthy adult individuals between the ages of 18 and 50 years, who will be screened for coeliac disease and asked to answer a validated questionnaire related to gastrointestinal symptoms.
Testing for coeliac disease will initially be done through a point of care testing kit. This has the advantage that an immediate result can be given to the patient. If this test will be positive, then further testing will be performed, which will include an endoscopic procedure and stool testing to assess the microbiota. The latter will be done in conjunction with the University of Kiel, Germany.
Gastroenterologist Dr Pierre Ellul, from the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery will be supervising the project that will form part of a PhD study by gastroenterologist Dr Martina Sciberras.
Dr Pierre Ellul
Dr. Schaer will be donating €41,000 towards the project through the RIDT, which funds will cover the cost of the testing kits and related expenses.
“We first started talking to Dr. Schaer around a year ago, in the middle of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is very encouraging to note that even in such difficult circumstances we managed to establish such an important collaboration which will no doubt shed more light on the situation of Coeliac disease in the Maltese population” said Mr Wilfred Kenely, CEO of the RIDT.
When asked about this collaboration, Mr Hansjörg Prast, CMO from Dr. Schaer emphasised his company’s focus on research and innovation. “We strongly believe that in order to keep developing new solutions that address specific nutritional challenges, we need to keep investing in research and innovation., and we need to be close to the consumer and the scientific world according to one of our values, proximity. This population study, combined with market intelligence data, provides important information about coeliac disease and gluten free diet which will also help the scientific world to understand the disease better.”
The RIDT was established in 2011 and it is intended to attract funds from private and corporate bodies to be used to maximise and exploit the research portfolio at the University of Malta, and to foster the commercial exploitation of research.