New partnership launched to accelerate TB drug research

Medical Tribune August 2008 P13
David Brill

A new collaboration was announced in Singapore last month that aims to facilitate the development of new drugs for tuberculosis (TB).

The 5-year agreement will allow information and ideas to be shared between the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) and the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (GATB), with a particular view to discovering drugs that work on resistant strains of TB.

“TB as an area is in desperate need of new drugs,” said Professor Paul Herrling, chairman of the board of the NITD.

“The essence of this is that we open our entire research protocol to the GATB. If we have a drug that looks promising for full development in TB, based on this agreement we can give them the exclusive license. It’s a very good thing.”

Shortening the duration of treatment is one of the major aims of the research, Herrling said. Current anti-TB drugs typically need to be taken for 6 to 9 months but resistance can develop when patients do not complete the course.

The project also seeks to find new drugs that are cheap to produce, easy to use, and do not interfere with HIV combination therapy.

The GATB – a not-for profit group which works with both private and public laboratories – is experienced in the later stages of drug development and in delivering new products to patients, Herrling said, whereas the NITD focuses on the early stages from the basic science through to proof of concept in humans.

“They really need a constant inflow of new compounds, and we are one of the suppliers. So it’s win-win in the sense that we produce what they want, and then they take our compounds and move them on beyond the stage that we would,” said Herrling, who is also a former vice president of the board at GATB.

TB was responsible for 1.7 million deaths in 2006, according to data from the World Health Organization. Almost half a million new cases each year are multidrug-resistant, with the highest-ever rates reported in 2008.

“One of the important changeovers [in drug discovery] is between the research part and what comes after,” said Herrling, adding that the new collaboration should speed up this part of the process.

“If you don’t do it well you lose a year or two or maybe even more at this interface, and that’s a bad idea because while you wait people are dying at the other end,” he concluded.