Philanthropic and non-profit private sector organisations to work as one to ‘accelerate the development of novel TB treatment regimens for all TB patients’ according to GSK.
Aims
Medicines to which there are currently limited or no drug resistance will be used and that are ‘ready for phase 3 development’ according to GSK.
The regimens aim toward addressing TB challenges globally surrounding the complexity of the disease.
The regimen will also go some way in making progress towards the diagnosis and treatment of drug resistant TB.
Drug regimens
The collaboration ‘aims to accelerate the development of novel ‘pan-TB’ drug regimens.
These particular regimens are classed as being ready for phase 3 development.
They will be designed to have ‘little to no’ drug resistance.
Other regiment attributes include having an acceptable safety profile, be better tolerated, be shorter in duration and also simpler to use than existing options.
Currently, patients with the most common type of TB have to take multiple drugs for around 6 months whilst being monitored.
Some patients have drug resistant TB and have to undergo more complex regimen treatments.
There is also additional testing that patients must be exposed to to diagnose drug resistant TB.
Members involved
The collaborative group is called PAN-TB Collaboration.
The members involved in the project are:
Evotec, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co, The Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Penny Heaton, M.D., CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute said:
“The development of a regimen that can treat both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis could be a game changer for how the world addresses TB and growing antimicrobial resistance.”
“The PAN-TB collaboration’s unique partnership model leverages the assets and expertise of multiple partners to fill a crucial need in the tuberculosis treatment research and development pipeline.”
Pauline Williams, MD, Senior Vice President of GSK Global Health Pharma said:
“GSK is committed to improving global health through our science and we have a world-leading pipeline of TB candidate medicines aiming to eliminate this deadly infectious disease.”
“However, no one organisation can succeed in tackling TB alone.”
“As a partner in the PAN-TB collaboration, we will contribute our scientific knowledge and innovative TB assets to determine the optimal treatment regimen to treat and cure TB patients regardless of their resistance profile to current treatments.”
