TB Vaccine
A vaccine that prevented tuberculosis would merit a Nobel Prize, but it's just very difficult to develop - Tom Frieden
HWN Suggests
A new TB vaccine could save 8.5m lives over the next quarter of a century
Tuberculosis (tb), which kills one person every 20 seconds, is a forgotten pandemic. About a quarter of the world’s population has been infected with the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Most will never know, as they are asymptomatic. But these latent infections go on to sicken about one person in ten. And even though tb is treatable, around 1.6m people each year, mostly in poor countries, nonetheless die from it. A 100-year-old vaccine, the bcg, has helped, but it is only partially effective. On June 28th two of the world’s wealthiest charities, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome, said they would fund a late-stage trial of a new tb vaccine known as m72. That will cost $550m,…
Featured
New TB Vaccine Could Save Millions of Lives, Study Suggests
In what may be a watershed moment in the fight against tuberculosis, the world’s most lethal infectious disease, an experimental new vaccine has protected about half the people who got it, scientists reported on Tuesday. While a 50 percent success rate is hardly ideal — the measles vaccine, by contrast, is about 98 percent protective — about 10 million people get tuberculosis each year, and 1.6 million die of it. Even a partly effective vaccine may save millions of lives.
The world’s first tuberculosis vaccine in 100 years could be in sight
The world needs a new vaccine to fight tuberculosis (TB). A new multimillion-pound global study funded by Wellcome and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation could provide a solution.
Articles of Interest
TB vaccine development: where are we and why is it so difficult?
The development of an effective TB vaccine remains paramount to achieving the goal of global eradication of TB by 2050. The only licensed vaccine, BCG, has variable efficacy and is poorly effective in high burden countries. The development of promising candidate vaccines to either ‘boost’ a BCG primed immune system or replace BCG altogether is a key area for innovative research.
Toward an Effective Tuberculosis Vaccine
Why has it been so hard to develop an effective vaccine for the disease?
Resources
Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative
TBVI is an independent non-profit foundation that facilitates the development of new vaccines to protect future generations against tuberculosis.
South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative
The South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI), is a world leader in TB vaccine clinical research located within the Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town.
TB Vaccine Development Pathway
The TB Vaccine Development Pathway was established by a team of scientific and technical experts from TBVI and IAVI with the input of the TB vaccine community. The tool has been developed on behalf of the Global TB Vaccine Partnership (GTBVP), an alliance of organisations that aim at making novel TB vaccines a reality, and is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
