Partnerships to fight the TB epidemic
A total of 1.6 million people died from tuberculosis (TB) in 2021. Worldwide, TB is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving this goal is possible, but we need to step up the fight — 2030 is only seven years away, and therefore much is to be done to be on track to meet our targets.
The biopharmaceutical industry continues to tackle many of the most immediate pressing needs in expanding access to care and treatment for TB. Nevertheless, to stem the tide of the epidemic, all sectors are needed to advance therapies and move health systems towards universal healthcare (UHC) so that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need.
To this end, there is a continued need to collaborate among governments, global NGOs, academia or research institutes, and the private sector to strengthen health systems in the fight against TB. Through these partnerships, we are leveraging our expertise and that of our partners to build stronger integrated health systems that improve health and quality of life. Beyond medicines, we are supporting community outreach to increase awareness and reduce stigma, building health workforce capacity, strengthening supply chains, supporting regulatory capacity building, enhancing infrastructure, and finding innovative solutions to ensure that all people can access high-quality care and treatment.
Members of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), which represents leading innovative pharmaceutical companies, run dozens of TB programs across the globe. We will shine the spotlight on some of these programs.
The TB Drug Accelerator is a groundbreaking collaboration among multiple academic research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and a product development partnership (PDP) to facilitate the discovery and development of novel compounds against TB. Started in 2012, the collaboration involves IFPMA members AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eisai, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, and MSD. Sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the TB Drug Accelerator aims to identify new drugs that can contribute to safer, shorter, simpler, and more affordable TB treatment regimens. The unique collaboration shares best practices, research methods and data, and is working to develop a proof-of-concept for a one-month, three-drug regimen by 2024. To date, scientists from four continents have shared and tested more than three million compounds for screening.
Since 2015, Otsuka’s FighTBack initiative has been working to increase access to treatment and care for patients with multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) through capacity building, R&D, and responsible access to treatment. Otsuka participates in collaborative studies involving the anti-TB drug delamanid, including the EndTB project led by the EndTB Consortium, and the MDR-END project led by Seoul National University Hospital, which evaluates new regimens for the treatment of MDR-TB.
Since 1998, Sanofi and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been working together to further R&D for the TB drug rifapentine by expanding its treatment scope and role in treating non-resistant latent and active TB. The program aims to simplify and shorten the treatment of TB. It also shares information about existing treatments and compounds under development to speed up the identification of promising new TB treatments, including latent TB treatments.
In 2019, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) also announced a license agreement with Pfizer to facilitate the clinical development of sutezolid, an investigational medicine for the treatment of TB. The MPP said that if further developed in combination with other drugs, sutezolid could be used to more effectively treat patients especially those diagnosed with MDR-TB.
Since 2018, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has been supporting global efforts to end TB through a comprehensive initiative that aims to save an estimated 1.8 million lives and prevent 12 million new TB infections over the next decade. J&J is partnering in three key areas through its 10-year initiative: improving TB detection; continuing to expand access to MDR-TB treatment; and accelerating R&D to develop new regimens.
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said that “the whole of society must exert efforts to suppress the alarming rise of tuberculosis.” He added that the government’s strategic plan is to ensure early diagnosis and treatment and ample testing sites and medications. The research-based biopharmaceutical industry has been part of the global and national efforts to thwart this epidemic that is disproportionately impacting Filipinos.
Teodoro B. Padilla is the executive director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). PHAP represents the biopharmaceutical medicines and vaccines industry in the country. Its members are in the forefront of research and development efforts for COVID-19 and other diseases that affect Filipinos.
