E-DRUG: TB Alliance and GSK to Develop New TB Therapies
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Good morning,
We would like to share the TB Alliance's announcement today, to partner
with GlaxoSmithKline for a broad discovery project to develop new
therapies for TB.
Thank you,
Sarah Ee
Public Affairs Fellow
Advocacy and Public Affairs
Global Alliance for TB Drug Development
80 Broad Street, 31st Floor
New York NY 10004
Tel: +1 (212) 227 7540 ext. 236
Fax: +1 (212) 227 7541
Email: sarah.ee@tballiance.org
www.tballiance.org
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TB Alliance and GlaxoSmithKline Launch Broad Discovery Portfolio to
Develop New TB Therapies
Program Commits to Affordable Pricing
New York/London - March 21, 2005 - The Global Alliance for TB Drug
Development (TB Alliance) and GlaxoSmithKline (FTSE/NYSE: GSK) announced
today they will pursue a joint drug discovery program to improve the
treatment of tuberculosis (TB). The program substantially enhances the
worldwide TB drug pipeline by adding several novel classes of compounds
that use new mechanisms of action.
The joint research program consists of a portfolio of four projects
intended to yield new compounds that attack Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(M. tb) on multiple levels. Drug candidates arising from these projects
could shorten the treatment time for patients with TB and, because of
their novel mechanisms of action, treat patients who are resistant to
conventional therapies. These compounds will also be screened for their
ability to be used simultaneously with HIV/AIDS treatments, known as
antiretrovirals (ARVs). TB is a leading cause of death among people
living with HIV/AIDS, but today simultaneous TB-HIV treatment is
extremely difficult due to drug-drug interactions between some ARVs and
current TB drugs.
"This partnership makes a significant contribution to the increasingly
robust TB drug pipeline," said Dr. Maria C. Freire, President and CEO of
the TB Alliance. "Ultimately, the revolution in TB treatment will be
based on the best combinations of novel drugs. By joining both parties'
expertise and committing to affordability, we are making a major step
forward in solving a complex global health problem."
"We look forward to leveraging GSK's Diseases of the Developing World
program by joining the TB Alliance's initiative to combat tuberculosis,"
said Dr. Tadataka Yamada, Chairman of Research and Development at GSK.
"This joint research program exemplifies the type of partnership that is
needed to speed the development of new therapies for the leading
infectious diseases in developing nations."
The research program includes the pleuromutilins, a novel class of
antibiotics, and two target-based projects, isocitrate lyase (Icl) and
InhA. The fourth project will screen GSK's antimicrobial libraries for
novel compounds that have the ability to kill M. tb. The program will
be overseen by a Joint Steering Committee and is based at GSK's Tres
Cantos, Spain facility, dedicated to the Diseases of the Developing
World. The TB Alliance will help support 25 full-time scientists working
exclusively on the TB drug program. GSK agrees to absorb all remaining
overhead costs for the associated projects. GSK will also contribute a
matching number of staff as well as its drug discovery expertise. The
agreement stipulates that any resulting medicines will be affordable and
accessible to those most in need.
"The TB Alliance's hard work in the past five years has paved the way
for a set of major steps forward in TB treatment," said Mark Harrington,
Executive Director of the Treatment Action Group. "The challenge ahead
is to expedite the clinical trials of the most promising drugs in people
with TB and with HIV/TB, so we can realize the promise of faster
curative treatment that is safe and effective with anti-HIV drugs."
The TB Alliance's goal is to develop an entirely new therapeutic regimen
that will shorten and simplify current TB treatment, which currently
takes six to nine months to complete. There have been no new TB drugs
introduced in over 40 years. In assembling the first global TB drug
pipeline since the 1960s, the TB Alliance forges partnerships with
industry, research institutes, and academia. In addition to supporting
platform technologies, the TB Alliance is developing nitroimidazopyrans,
quinolones, macrolides and other classes of antibiotics.
A shorter TB regimen is expected to improve patient compliance, increase
cure rates and lower toxic side effects, thereby limiting the rise of
new resistant strains. A novel TB regimen that is also compatible with
HIV treatments would improve TB control and help in the fight on AIDS.
The TB Alliance works to ensure that drugs are affordable, adopted by
health practitioners and are accessible to patients who need them most.
About the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) is a
not-for-profit, public-private partnership accelerating the discovery
and/or development of affordable, new anti-TB drugs that will shorten
treatment, be effective against multi-drug resistant strains, and
improve treatment of latent infection. In collaborations with public and
private research laboratories worldwide, it is leading the development
of the first, most comprehensive portfolio of TB drug candidates in
three decades. It operates with the support of public and philanthropic
funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller
Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development, the
Netherlands Ministry for Cooperation Development and the National
Institutes of Health.
About GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) - one of the world's leading research-based
pharmaceutical and healthcare companies - is committed to improving the
quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and
live longer.
GSK is committed to playing a leading role in addressing the healthcare
crisis in the developing world. GSK believes it is the only company
researching new vaccines and treatments for all three of the WHO's
priority diseases in the developing world - HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis. GSK has 26 clinical development programmes for diseases
of relevance to the developing world and a number of preclinical
projects. For more information on GSK's R&D for diseases of the
developing world please see http://science.gsk.com/about/disease.htm.
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CONTACTS:
For TB Alliance:
Gwynne Oosterbaan
+1 646 258 8410
Denielle Sachs
+1 212 227 7540 ext 202
For GlaxoSmithKline:
UK Media US Media
Chris Hunter-Ward Mary Anne Rhyne
+44 20 8047 5502 +1 919 483 2839