On behalf of The Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Academia Sinica, a research institution based in Taiwan, to collaborate in target-based screening for the discovery of new tuberculosis (TB) drugs. The Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative's most important goal is filling the pipeline for faster, future TB drug development.
In recent years the incidence of TB, especially multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), has increased alarmingly. The 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) report on TB states that globally there were an estimated 9.27 million incident cases of TB in 2007. This is an increase from 8.3 million cases in 2000 and 6.6 million cases in 1990.
By signing the MOU, Academia Sinica agrees to join The Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, among whose primary members are Eli Lilly and Company and IDRI. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the U.S. National Institutes of Health also has an agreement with Eli Lilly and Company and IDRI to participate in the TB Drug Discovery Initiative. Academia Sinica will join the initiative as a Contributing Member and will contribute to the research, development and discovery of new TB drugs.
Even under the best of circumstances, 30-40 percent of XDR-TB cases are untreatable. Treating TB, like HIV, requires a cocktail or combination of drugs, not just one. Thus there is an urgent need for multiple new drugs. TB drug development is so complex that no single company or institution has the resources or expertise to do it alone.