TB Alliance enters into collaboration with sanofi-aventis
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and sanofi-aventis have entered into a collaboration agreement to accelerate the discovery, development and clinical use of drugs against tuberculosis.
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and sanofi-aventis have entered into a collaboration agreement to accelerate the discovery, development and clinical use of drugs against tuberculosis.
The collaboration agreement has been created to address the significant need to develop new TB drugs that will shorten treatment and be effective against drug-susceptible and drug-resistant strains of TB.
Today's TB drugs are more than 40 years old and must be taken for six to nine months for drug-sensitive disease and up to 24 months for drug-resistant disease. Long, demanding treatment schedules prove result in erratic or inconsistent treatment, leading to drug resistance, treatment failure or death.
The TB Alliance is a not-for-profit, product development partnership, whose goal is the development of new TB drugs. Working with its public and private partners worldwide, it is leading the development of a comprehensive portfolio of TB drug candidates, two of which are in advanced clinical trials with 12 others in its pipeline.
Sanofi-aventis, which discovered rifampicin in the early 1960s, markets several anti-TB drugs. The company is also actively researching new therapeutic approaches, including new vaccines and drug candidates with new mechanisms of action.
Under the agreement, the two organisations will share information on their respective projects and exchange insights on developments in TB drug research. Additionally, they will consult with each other on relevant regulatory, access and clinical trial capacity strategies related to developing countries. These activities may open new avenues of possible common development in the future.
"Thanks to the TB Alliance's expertise in drug development, a partnership will allow both of us to make new drugs available faster," said Dr Robert Sebbag, vice president, Access to Medicines at sanofi-aventis. "Impact TB, the TB programme within sanofi-aventis" Access to Medicines division, aims to provide new drugs at a price that is affordable for all patients, and this is a vision we share with the TB Alliance."
