Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Africa must develop its own pharmaceutical pipeline through creation of policy frameworks

"To break free of its dependence on donor money and supplies from India, Africa must develop its own pharmaceutical pipeline by creating policy frameworks that encourage a fledgling drug industry," journalist Priya Shetty argues in this SciDev.Net opinion piece.

23 Mar 2012

Blog posts comment on World TB Day

Several blog posts recently commented on the upcoming World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, commemorated on March 24. "Despite a clear legislative mandate, the U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI) has consistently failed to live up to the goals of" the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), and Malaria Reauthorization Act, passed by Congress in 2008, John Fawcett, legislative director for RESULTS, writes in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog.

23 Mar 2012

Lancet editorial calls for TB control, elimination efforts to be on G20 agenda

In anticipation of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, commemorated on March 24, this Lancet editorial examines TB control and elimination efforts in 2012 and beyond. "Tuberculosis killed 1.45 million people in 2010 and about 500,000 people have drug-resistant disease," the editorial states, adding, "Despite a woeful funding gap in 2012 of $1.7 billion, tuberculosis incidence is falling (from 9.4 million in 2009 to 8.8 million in 2010)."

23 Mar 2012

NGOs release joint statement calling for governments to increase payments to Global Fund to fill gap in TB funding

Ahead of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24, three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) released a joint statement warning that "[a] $1.7 billion funding shortfall to fight [TB] over the next five years means 3.4 million patients will go untreated and gains made against the disease will be reversed," Reuters reports.

23 Mar 2012

MSF warns MDR-TB is more widespread than previously thought

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says the spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) -- "a form of tuberculosis that does not respond to standard treatment and can kill in a matter of months" -- "is much greater than previously thought," VOA News reports.

23 Mar 2012

Human Immunity to Tuberculosis conference to take place from April 13-14

Leading international experts in tuberculosis and related diseases from at least 10 countries will gather at a Human Immunity to Tuberculosis conference April 13-14 in Atlanta. The meeting will take place at the Emory Conference Center, 1615 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30329.

23 Mar 2012

UI receives three grants to hasten discovery of new TB therapeutics

Forty-five years. That's how long it's been since the last drug - rifampin - hit the market to treat tuberculosis, an infection that affects nearly one third of the world's population and causes 1.8 million deaths annually. The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy has received three new federally-funded grants to hasten the discovery of new therapeutic treatments.

23 Mar 2012

Emergent receives NIAID grant to advance development of MVA85A TB vaccine

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today announced that it has received a multi-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to advance the development of MVA85A, a candidate vaccine against tuberculosis.

23 Mar 2012

Working together to fight TB

In this post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," guest blogger Joanna Breitstein, director of communications for the TB Alliance, describes an event organized by the Critical Paths to TB Drug Regimens that took place on Monday, "heralding the launch of a new clinical trial that tests tuberculosis drugs in combination."

22 Mar 2012

U of S professor receives Canada Gairdner Wightman Award

University of Saskatchewan Professor Emeritus Lorne Babiuk has been awarded the prestigious Canada Gairdner Wightman Award in recognition of his accomplishments over three decades that include leading the U of S Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) to become a world centre for vaccine research, training and development.

22 Mar 2012

Researchers unveil 'blueprint' to guide next steps in TB vaccine development

"On Tuesday, a global alliance of researchers and scientists -- led by the Stop TB Partnership, an umbrella group of health groups -- unveiled a 'blueprint' to develop a new vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) that aims to disrupt transmission in hard-hit countries and communities," the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 Mar 2012

Global Fund spotlights contributions of public-private partnerships in event on Capitol Hill

"At a public event held Tuesday on Capitol Hill, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria spotlighted the contributions of public-private partnerships to the Global Fund's lifesaving work," a joint press release reports.

22 Mar 2012

USAID World TB Day website

USAID's website features a page dedicated to World TB Day, which will be commemorated on March 24. The page lists information on upcoming events, as well as links to several reports, such as the FY2010 Report to Congress on the Global TB Context, stories, and features.

21 Mar 2012

China's Ministry of Health reports about 900,000 cases of active TB in 2011

"About 900,000 cases of active tuberculosis (TB) were discovered and treated in China in 2011, including 423,000 infectious cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced Monday at a press conference," Xinhua reports.

21 Mar 2012

Center for Global Health Policy interviews TB expert in advance of World TB Day

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog interviews tuberculosis (TB) expert Lee Reichman, founding executive director of the New Jersey Medical School Global Tuberculosis Institute, in advance of World TB Day, to be observed on March 24.

21 Mar 2012

Top scientific experts publish new TB vaccine Blueprint

Against a backdrop of growing concern about the impact of tuberculosis on children, top scientific experts today published a global plan of action for developing the vaccines that are seen as critical to eliminating the disease.

21 Mar 2012

TB Alliance launches Phase II clinical trial to test new drug regimen among people with TB, MDR-TB

The TB Alliance on Monday announced it has launched a Phase II clinical trial "of a new treatment regimen for tuberculosis, including for patients with resistance to existing multi-drug programs," Agence France-Presse reports.

21 Mar 2012

Transforming biomedical research to develop 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.

21 Mar 2012

Reuters examines global rise in drug-resistant tuberculosis cases

"[O]ften seen in the wealthy West as a disease of bygone eras," Reuters examines rising rates of tuberculosis (TB) -- drug-resistant TB in particular -- among the world's rich and poor. "[R]apidly rising rates of drug-resistant TB in some of the wealthiest cities in the world, as well as across Africa and Asia, are again making history," Reuters writes.

21 Mar 2012