Tuberculosis is an old disease that demands new drugs. More than one million people die each year from Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections and a growing percentage of new infections—at least 9%—are caused by strains of the bacterium that can’t be killed with many of the drugs now available. Read more
The problem of counterfeit drugs has made headlines in recent years with, for example, the discovery of fake versions of the cancer drug Avastin showing up in US hospitals. But the problem is worst in developing countries, where up to 25% of drugs in developing countries are falsified or substandard, according to the World Health organization (WHO). Read more
The deadline for the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is fast approaching, and global governance bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO) are already busy discussing what they might propose for the list of new aims going forward. Tuberculosis was named within goal number 6 in the initial set of MDGs, a set of international developmental targets established by the UN 13 years ago, but the objective was to simply reduce its global incidence. So, as health officials take stock of targets, the tuberculosis community is itching to get its goals included with more definition in the post-2015 development agenda. They will meet to discuss a consensus on the appropriate post-2015 tuberculosis goals at a two-day meeting, sponsored by the WHO, taking place in Geneva beginning 7 February. “My aim is to reach a consensus right now,” says Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO’s Stop TB Department in Geneva. “If we wait, we may miss the train.” … Read more
WASHINGTON, DC — Aligning the priorities of all stakeholders involved in vaccine development can be a convoluted and thorny process. An international health organization might emphasize a candidate vaccine’s expected health benefits for disadvantaged populations, a government agency might be more focused on its own backyard, and a drug company could be driven by its monetary bottom line. With so many competing interests, what experimental product does it make the most sense for these partners to pursue? Read more
By now, you’ve all heard about Andrew Speaker, the man who brought extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis to full-blown US attention. The case is undeniably bizarre. Man has deadly infection, health officials try in vain to get him to stop flying, he puts hundreds of passengers at risk despite being on a so-called “no-fly” list, a customs official lets him in because he doesn’t look sick… oh, and most bizarrely of all, his father-in-law is a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specializing in, wait for it, TB. My first response was to think that the US was over-reacting. Read more
Well, sort of. For the past few days, I’ve been in rainy Vancouver, where TB researchers from all over the world have gathered for a Keystone meeting on the topic. As we reported in our free TB special this month, TB kills 4,400 people every day and together with HIV, is creating a serious crisis in Africa, Asia and eastern Europe. Read more
Did you know that although AIDS and TB kill about the same number of people, AIDS research gets roughly 20 times the money given for TB research? I didn’t either, until I went to a meeting last week organized by MSF (Doctors without Borders). The theme of the meeting was the urgent need to get some more money—a common cry in science, but in this case, fully warranted. Read more