Recent news
February 2012
Progress announced in TB vaccine and drug development
February 1, 2012 -- GHTC member Aeras has announced a collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in order to work on a clinical trial for a new vaccine to prevent tuberculosis (TB). The vaccine was jointly developed by Aeras and Crucell, a biopharmaceutical company from the Netherlands. The clinical trial for the vaccine began in October 2010, in Kenya, South Africa, and Mozambique, and is testing the safety and efficacy of the vaccine candidate in HIV-negative infants.
This partnership is significant as it marks the first time the NIH has used its HIV/AIDS clinical trial networks to accelerate the development of a TB vaccine candidate. This, coupled with NIAID’s recent partnership with a Phase III TB drug trial, shows NIAID’s increased commitment to leveraging HIV-related infrastructure to help advance TB research and development (R&D). This collaboration, and the use of these resources to develop new TB vaccines and drugs, could help advance TB R&D for both HIV-negative and HIV-positive populations. “We are pleased to be able to tap into our existing HIV/AIDS clinical research infrastructure to help test promising investigational vaccines against TB,” said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci.
“Our novel collaboration with NIAID comes as multiple TB vaccine candidates are poised to enter efficacy trials requiring thousands of participants and significant investment, as well as complex infrastructure and sophisticated expertise,” said Jim Connolly, president and CEO of Aeras, in a press release.
Through the partnership with NIAID, the trial will expand to include up to six more sites in sub-Saharan Africa by utilizing the pre-existing HIV/AIDS clinical research infrastructure that is supported by the NIH.
In related news, GHTC member the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) announced a major milestone in its attempt to develop a new drug to treat TB. The group, along with its international partners, completed patient enrollment in a Phase III clinical trial that is testing the new treatment for drug-sensitive TB. If approved, this will drug will help shorten the treatment cycle for the disease, as well as address the increasing burden of TB around the world. It is expected that this trial will be completed in the middle of next year. If successful, the TB Alliance, in partnership with Bayer Healthcare, will begin work to make the treatment available and affordable to patients worldwide.
