Tasso Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Utility and acceptability of self-collected capillary blood using Tasso® device for HIV viral load testing.
IRAS ID
343187
Contact name
Manoj Valappil
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 0 days
Research summary
People with HIV must attend the clinic at least twice a year to have blood tests done to make sure that their HIV medicines are working properly. For some people, this means taking time off work, study, or caring commitments. Some people also struggle to attend clinic. This can be for many reasons, including disability, mental health difficulties, stigma, or fear of catching bugs (like COVID or ‘flu). Our idea is that lots of people could safely have some of their HIV check-ups done from home. We are testing out a new device called Tasso®. A person places this on the skin of their arm for a few minutes and it collects a blood sample. They then post it back to their clinic. It is painless. It has already been thoroughly tested and is known to be safe to use. In this project we will ask people attending the HIV clinic to volunteer to try the Tasso® device at the same time as getting their usual blood test. They will watch a very short video showing how to use the device and then they will attach it to their own skin. We will then do the test (called ‘HIV viral load’) on both the Tasso® sample and the normal blood sample. This will tell us whether the Tasso® can give accurate results. If Tasso® works well, we would then start to offer it to people who want to use it as an alternative to attending clinic face-to-face.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
25/WA/0073
Date of REC Opinion
11 Mar 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion