TB vaccine research gets a boost from Europe

28 Aug 2009

Tatum Anderson

Source: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (see original article)
Source: EDCTP (see original article)
Source: TBVI (see original article)

Comments

The Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), a European project to encourage tuberculosis (TB) vaccine discovery and early clinical development, has embarked on a campaign to raise US$ 20 million annually from governments, foundations and private industry over the next decade.

The 18-month-old organization aims to get vaccine candidates as far as phase I clinical trials by funding discovery and early development projects in more than 30 universities located predominantly within the European Union (EU).

TBVI has already received a three-year US$ 3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pay for fundraising, advocacy and communications staff, as well annual reports and a website.

TBVI has raised a total of €14.5 million from the EU and private companies (including Finnish Fit Biotech) this year. The plan is to raise its profile among other potential funders.

Despite the fact that almost a third of the world’s population might be infected with the mycobacteria that causes TB, no new vaccines have emerged since the discovery of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) over ninety years ago. Worryingly, drug-resistant forms (including multi-drug resistant forms) of TB have been emerging, increasing the need for preventative vaccines to tackle this global killer.

The money raised by TBVI will be used to help create boosters for BCG. It will also help fund research into new vaccines that might eventually replace BCG (which has several limitations to its use).

TBVI is the latest iteration of research project that was originally created and funded by the European Commission. Under that project, known as TB-VAC, researchers identified five new TB vaccine candidates, fifteen candidate biomarkers and three candidate adjuvant molecules.

The plan now is to move these candidates into preclinical development or even clinical phase trials. The more advanced clinical candidates will then be handed over to other organizations, such as the TB Vaccine PDP Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, to be developed further. As an example, TB-VAC contributed to the development of one candidate, a BCG prime booster vaccine called MVA85A/AERAS-485 which is now in phase IIb trials. This was originally developed by Dr Helen McShane and fellow researchers at Oxford University.

Meanwhile the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), which TropIKA.net has previously profiled, has issued new calls for research projects. It plans to provide up to six grants worth €3 million to support the conduct of phase II clinical trials of TB vaccines in African countries, with a focus on research into new and upcoming TB vaccines, such as recombinant BCG vaccines.

A further €2.5 million will also be awarded to individual state-funded projects (on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria) that are keen to integrate with other projects in the EU.