Trial signals major milestone in hunt for new TB drugs

A novel approach to discover the first new tuberculosis (TB) combination drug regimen cleared a major hurdle when Phase II clinical trial results found it could kill more than 99 percent of patients’ TB bacteria within two weeks and could be more effective than existing treatments, according to a study published today in the Lancet. These results add to a growing body of evidence that the new regimen could reduce treatment by more than a year for some patients.

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NIH researchers highlight progress, path forward for developing TB vaccines

In the past decade, scientists have made significant progress building the critical knowledge and infrastructure needed to identify and develop novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidates and move the most promising ones into human clinical trials. The results of those trials, coupled with advances from other TB studies, have paved the way for the next 10 years of research on TB vaccines, a critical component of TB control efforts, note scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. Their editorial, co-authored by NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and Christine Sizemore, Ph.D., appears in the journal Tuberculosis to coincide with the publication of Tuberculosis Vaccines: A Strategic Blueprint for the Next Decade.

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Vaccine targeting latent TB enters clinical testing

Statens Serum Institut and Aeras today announce the initiation of the first Phase I clinical trial of a new candidate TB vaccine designed to protect people latently infected with TB from developing active TB disease. The trial is being conducted by the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) at its field site in Worcester, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Dr. Hassan Mahomed is the principal investigator.

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Researchers uncover why the body can’t defend against tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, which kills over 2 million people each year, is caused primarily by infectious bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis – or Mtb. Mtb targets human immune cells as part of its strategy to avoid detection, effectively neutralizing the body’s immune response.

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Creating an ‘electronic nose’ to sniff out tuberculosis from a patient’s breath

A new hand-held device called the Electronic Nose, which has the potential to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) in symptomatic patients, was awarded a $950,000 grant from Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today to support further development and testing of this ground-breaking technology.

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New TB vaccine approach shows promise in mice

An experimental vaccine composed of a genetically modified bacterium closely related to the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB) has been found to protect mice against TB infection, according to a study appearing online September 4 in the journal Nature Medicine. The research was funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health.

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TB vaccine candidate shows early promise

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University report in the September 4 online edition of Nature Medicine that they have developed a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate that proved both potent and safe in animal studies. (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/) According to the World Health Organization, TB kills an estimated 1.7 million people each year and infects one out of three people around the globe. With drug-resistant strains spreading, a vaccine for preventing TB is urgently needed.

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New TB vaccine enters proof-of-concept trial in people living with HIV

Vaccine candidate is the most clinically advanced of a new generation of vaccines under development to combat TB and the TB/HIV co-epidemic

This press release is available in French.

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Clinical trial begins on experimental anti-TB drug

TMC207 represents first new class of anti-TB drugs in the past 60 years

University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center will begin a Phase 1 clinical trial on a new experimental anti-tuberculosis drug called TMC207. This drug represents the first new class of anti-TB drugs in the past 60 years and it has activity against both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB.

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2020 vision of vaccines for malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS

In a Nature Perspective Seattle BioMed’s Aderem shares insight into rational vaccine development using new approaches

SEATTLE, WA, May 25, 2011 – Collectively, malaria, TB & HIV/AIDS cause more than five million deaths per year – nearly the entire population of the state of Washington – and represent one of the world’s major public health challenges as we move into the second decade of the 21st century. In the May 26, 2011, edition of the premier scientific journal Nature, Seattle BioMed Director Alan Aderem, Ph.D., along with Rino Rappuoli, Ph.D., Global Head of Vaccines Research for Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, discuss recent advances in vaccine development, along with new tools including systems biology and structure-based antigen design that could lead to a deeper understanding of mechanisms of protection. This, in turn, will illuminate the path to rational vaccine development to lift the burden of the world’s most devastating infectious diseases.

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