World TB Day 2023
TB remains one of the leading causes of death from an infectious agent. In 2021 – 10.6 million people fell sick with TB; 1.6 million people died.
New vaccines that are effective against all forms of TB in all age groups are essential to end the TB pandemic.
TB vaccines can¹:
- save lives
- help fight antimicrobial resistance
- be highly cost effective and cost saving
- offer a substantial return on investment
- reduce diagnosis and treatment costs
- advance health equity
- improve economic growth
TBVI and its R&D partners with funding from the European Union, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, EDCTP and the Governments of Netherlands and Germany, work to End TB by discovering and developing new, safe effective and affordable TB vaccines. Taking guidance from the TB Vaccine Roadmap² and WHO normative work – TBVI focuses on 3 strategic directions:
Accelerating clinical development
TBVI contributes to accelerating the clinical development of our partners’ vaccine candidates that are making substantial progress. TBVI provides product and clinical development support as well as resource mobilisation services to R&D partners and product developers to accelerate the development of the most promising TB vaccine and biomarker candidates through the TB vaccine pipeline.
Diversifying the pipeline
Support collaborative research efforts by R&D partners to innovate and diversify the TB vaccine (Pipeline of vaccines – TBVI) and biomarker pipeline and TB vaccine platforms to produce next/2nd generation TB vaccines through providing technical support and knowledge generation and sharing; project identification, development and management and resource mobilisation services.
These activities will contribute to filling several of the identified research gaps. For example, the development of a multi-organ chip model, and tools to increase our understanding of immune protection in the lung, the major site of tuberculosis infection. Also head-to-head evaluations of both novel vaccines and immunotherapeutics will be performed.
Ensuring public health impact
Working with Regional and Global partners and the Global TB Vaccine Partnership (Global TB Vaccine Partnership) to strengthen Global and European Cooperation and Coordination of TB vaccine R&I efforts, including identifying and addressing key gaps to move the TB vaccine R&I field forward; contributing to knowledge generation such the TB Vaccine development Pathway, and WHO normative work and roadmaps.
¹An Investment case for new TB vaccines.
²Global roadmap for research and development of tuberculosis vaccines