Gates Foundation Commits $280 Million For Research To Fight Global TB Epidemic

The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation today grants totaling $280 million to help fight
tuberculosis, an epidemic that infects one-third of people on earth and
kills nearly 2 million yearly - mostly in the poorest countries. The 11 new
grants will speed research and development on promising vaccines,
diagnostic tests, and treatments to help reduce the global TB burden.


"TB science has advanced significantly over the past five years, and
these grants build on this momentum and the progress that has been made,"
said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation's Global Health
Program. "By bringing together a wide range of partners, including
scientists from countries heavily affected by TB, we hope to help translate
promising ideas into tools that can save millions of lives."



The grants focus on three key areas:


-- Vaccine development: $200 million over five years to the Aeras Global
TB Vaccine Foundation to conduct clinical trials of up to six TB
vaccine candidates


-- Diagnostics: $62 million over five years to the Foundation for
Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) to develop TB tests that are more
accurate and simpler to use


-- Drug discovery: Nine grants totaling $18 million to identify new TB
treatments to combat drug resistance



The urgent need for better TB-fighting tools received worldwide
attention earlier this year when an airline passenger from the United
States traveled across borders with drug-resistant TB and exposed fellow
travelers to the disease. This case highlighted the inadequacy of current
TB diagnostic tools, which use technology that is more than 100 years old.
In addition, the TB vaccine is more than 80 years old and rarely works
after childhood, while TB drugs require long and cumbersome regimens, and
are losing their effectiveness to rising drug resistance.



"Even in rich countries, efforts to fight TB are severely hampered by
the lack of effective tools," said Dr. Peter Small, senior program officer
for TB at the Gates Foundation. "Better vaccines, diagnostics, and drugs
could dramatically improve the fight against TB, especially in poor
countries where large numbers of people are affected by the disease."



Grant to Support TB Vaccine Trials



The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation will use its new grant to
conduct Phase I and II trials of up to six TB vaccine candidates, which are
expected to involve 8,500 participants in 10 countries in Africa, Asia,
Europe, and the United States. The goal is to identify the best TB vaccines
for Phase III trials, the final stage of testing before a new vaccine can
be licensed for use.



"Over the past few years, scientists have gained important insights
into the immune responses needed to protect against TB," said Dr. Jerald
Sadoff, president and CEO of Aeras. "We're working as quickly as possible
to test promising vaccine candidates that could help turn the tide of TB
around the world."
















It has been projected that even a partially-effective new TB vaccine
could avert more than 30 million deaths worldwide by 2030.



Aeras and its partners have assembled a diverse portfolio of TB vaccine
candidates that are ready, or may soon be ready, for clinical trials. Aeras
has also helped establish world-class TB research centers in South Africa
and India, two of the countries most seriously affected by TB.



"Scientists in Africa and other developing countries are playing a
critical role in TB vaccine development," said Dr. Gregory Hussey, director
of the South African TB Vaccine Initiative and professor at the University
of Cape Town. "An effective vaccine is essential for slowing the spread of
TB, and we're proud to be part of the global vaccine effort."



New TB Diagnostics Within Reach



The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) will use its new
grant to advance development of up to 10 new TB diagnostic tests, in the
hope of obtaining World Health Organization approval of one or more tests
within five years.



Over the past few years, FIND and its partners have identified a number
of new diagnostics that could be more accurate than existing TB tests, and
could improve diagnosis of the disease in areas that lack sophisticated
health care facilities.



"The difficulty of diagnosing TB is one of the greatest obstacles to
controlling the disease, particularly in patients who also have HIV/AIDS,"
said Dr. Giorgio Roscigno, CEO of FIND. "We're closer than ever to improved
diagnostics, which will help ensure that people infected with TB receive
prompt and proper care."



The standard test used to diagnose TB misses half of cases, and
requires culturing a patient's sputum sample in the laboratory and
examining it with a microscope after an intensive multi-step process. It
has been estimated that improved diagnostics could help save at least
400,000 lives every year.



Grants to Spur Innovative TB Drug Discovery



The nine grants for early-stage discovery projects will identify leads
for new TB drug compounds that are more effective than current treatment
options.



Developing new TB treatments is an urgent priority because resistance
is growing to drugs that were once widely effective for curing the disease
- last year there were more than 400,000 cases of drug-resistant TB. In
addition, there is a need for faster-acting TB drugs; current drugs must be
taken for at least six months to be fully effective.



"To stay ahead of TB drug resistance, we need to pursue new,
out-of-the- box ideas that have not yet been tested," said Dr. Yamada.
"These grants could help bring about a new generation of more effective
drugs to significantly advance our ability to fight TB."



The TB drug discovery grants announced today include:


-- $7.5 million to Seattle Biomedical Research Institute


-- Two grants totaling $3.7 million to Colorado State University


-- Two grants totaling $2.4 million to Weill Cornell Medical College


-- $1.8 million to Johns Hopkins University


-- $1.7 million to Ordway Research Institute


-- $750,000 to Northeastern University


-- $453,000 to Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne



Grants Support Global Plan to Stop TB



The new grants support priorities in the Stop TB Partnership's Global
Plan to Stop TB, a detailed blueprint for reducing the TB burden over the
next decade. The plan calls for worldwide spending on TB to triple by 2015.



Last year, the foundation pledged to support the plan by providing at
least $900 million in TB funding by 2015. With the new grants announced
today, the foundation has fulfilled more than half of that commitment.



"TB is a major threat, and stopping it must be a top global priority,"
said Dr. Marcos Espinal, executive secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.
"We have an achievable action plan to reduce the TB burden, and it is
encouraging to see new resources going to Stop TB partners to support this
plan."



Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive
lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health,
and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme
poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people,
especially those with the fewest resources, have access to the
opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle,
the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and Co-chair William H. Gates
Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.


The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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