Reuters news examines quest for new TB drugs, vaccines

Reuters examines the search for new tuberculosis medicines and vaccines. "Although TB has plagued humankind for thousands of years, there is only one vaccine," which isn't very effective and doesn't protect adults. "With the exception of rifabutin, there has been no new drug for TB for more than 40 years," the news service writes.

At the recent 40th Union World Conference on Lung Health, which concluded on Monday in Cancun, Mexico, clinical trial director Anne Wajja, spoke about preparations in Uganda to test an experimental TB vaccine. "New TB drugs and vaccines will be important, they will change the lives of ordinary people, it is definitely important to have a new vaccine," Wajja said.

According to Reuters, "There are now nine experimental vaccines in clinical trials and experts in the field are confident that the world will see a new and better vaccine by 2016." There are also eight experimental drugs undergoing trials. The article includes information about the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, which is "working on four of the nine vaccines," and the TB Alliance, which "is involved in developing three of the eight experimental drugs in clinical trials," including moxifloxacin, which the group hopes "will be ready in five years" (Lyn, 12/7).