Who are we?
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) is a not-for-profit, product development partnership accelerating the discovery and development of new TB drugs that will shorten treatment, be effective against susceptible and resistant strains, be compatible with antiretroviral therapies used for HIV/AIDS, and improve treatment of latent infection.
What is our mission?
Our mission is to develop new, faster and better TB drugs that are affordable and accessible to those who need them.
Why are new TB drugs needed?
TB kills someone every 20 seconds — about 4,400 people every day, or approximately 1.5 million in 2006 alone, according to the latest estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO). TB is second only to HIV as the leading infectious killer of adults worldwide. It accounts for more deaths among women than all other causes of maternal mortality combined and is the leading infectious cause of death among people with HIV/AIDS.
New drugs are critical to ending the needless burden of TB. The current TB drug regimen, a product of the best scientific advances of the 1960s, works for active, drug-susceptible TB – as long as patients complete the six- to nine-month treatment. The problem is, many do not or cannot, especially in the poorest areas where TB prevalence is highest. Erratic or inconsistent treatment results in treatment failure and breeds drug resistance. Driven by its deadly synergy with HIV/AIDS, complicated by drug-resistant strains, and amplified by the consequences of poverty, today’s epidemic is threatening to destabilize gains in TB control.
What do we do?
Working with public and private partners worldwide, the TB Alliance is leading the development of the most comprehensive portfolio of TB drug candidates in history, paving the way for the first new treatments in over 40 years. Two compounds are currently in clinical trials, and a wide variety of discovery projects are feeding the drug candidate pipeline. Partners include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic laboratories, multilateral institutions, and advocates. The TB Alliance brings together these organizations so that the strengths of each can contribute to the quest for new, better TB drugs.
The TB Alliance is committed to ensuring that approved new regimens are not only affordable but also adopted and available so that all who need them have access to new, novel drugs that treat tuberculosis more quickly and easily.
Who provides your financial support?
The TB Alliance operates with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), and Irish Aid. For more information on TB drug development and the TB Alliance, please visit our website.
What is the latest news on TB, and how can I find out more?
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there are nearly half a million new cases worldwide each year of multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB – a strain that is resistant to two of the four drugs in today’s standard antibiotic regimen. What is worse, a virtually untreatable form of the disease known as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, has been recorded in 45 countries, including countries of the European Region.
World TB Day is on March 24th – to find out more about what people are doing to eliminate TB, and for information on how to join them, please see the StopTB Partnership website.
EPHA related articles
Improving efforts to tackle TB in Europe
WHO and Stop TB Partnership release a drug-resistant TB plan
Prevalence of TB and Inequalities in Health Care for Roma in Europe
Organisations join forces in the fight against TB in Europe
Global Alliance for TB Drug Development
