New collaboration developing TB drug

A new alliance is hoping to produce a new vaccine that can effectively be used to stop TB.

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) is working with pharmaceutical firm Tibotec to develop a new anti-TB drug called TMC207.

The partnership is hoping to reduce the likelihood of people who are living with HIV being susceptible to TB.

Dr Alasdair Reid, HIV/TB advisor to UNAIDS, welcomed the new partnership, which was announced at the Pacific Health Summit.

"If the encouraging results of early studies are confirmed, TMC207 will represent the first new class of TB drugs we have had in 40 years, offering hope to people living with HIV who are at increased risk of developing TB disease and especially drug-resistant TB," he said.

"The rise of multidrug resistant TB and the lack of new drugs to date are among the biggest threats to TB control and the HIV response."

Earlier this year, UNAIDS called for more cooperation in attempts to combat TB and HIV.

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