Co-Author Of Article In The Lancet Medical Journal Says TB Drug Pipeline Shows Major Progress And Offers Real Hope

NEW YORK, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Melvin Spigelman, head of research and development for the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and one of the world's leading experts on TB, writes in The Lancet this week that new drugs in discovery and development offer the first real hope of a cure for TB in a half century.

The article, co-authored with Dr. Stephen Gillespie of the Center for Medical Microbiology at the Royal Free and University College Medical School, appears in the special edition of The Lancet this week, devoted to tuberculosis in conjunction with the annual World TB Day activities on March 24th.

Spigelman has been at the forefront of efforts to find new drugs to shorten and improve the treatment of tuberculosis, a disease that infects one- third of the world and is the leading killer of people with HIV-AIDS.

Just five years ago, there was no drug pipeline for TB and no new drugs in any stage of development, even though TB continued to spread and evolve multi- drug resistant strains. Because TB was considered a disease of poor nations, there was little commercial incentive for drug development. With funding from The Rockefeller Foundation and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the TB Alliance was created and today has two drugs in global clinical trials and eight more under development.

Meanwhile, several pharmaceutical companies listed in The Lancet piece also began developing and testing new TB drugs. Today, just five years after the TB Alliance was created, about 27 compounds and drugs are in some stage of development.

"This renewed interest in drug discovery and development has transformed a bleak picture into one of cautious optimism," Spigelman writes, and goes on to outline some of the substantial challenges that lie ahead.

To speak with Spigelman about these challenges, the drugs in development, the threat of multi-drug resistant forms of TB in the United States or other issues related to TB and drug development, contact Sydney Rubin at 512 442 1114 or Gwynne Oosterbaan at 212 227 7540.

CONTACT: Sydney Rubin, +1-512-442-1114, or Gwynne Oosterbaan,+1-212-227-7540, both of TB Alliance