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Global archive: Tubercolosis

Push for drug development to combat resistant strains

At a conference held in New York in January under the auspices of Médecins Sans Frontieres [MSF], a gathering of over 100 TB specialists, drug developers and others connected with the fight against the disease, discussed ways and means to speed–up the development of new drugs.

The director of the MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, Dr Tido von Schoen–Angerer, gave as his opinion, “We are failing people with TB”. His belief is that matters are deteriorating rapidly with multi–drug resistant TB and even extensively drug resistant TB, particularly where HIV is prevalent.

The disease claims two million lives each year, mainly because of the lack of diagnostic or treatment tools yet compared with the research into HIV, tuberculosis is lagging well behind.

Many experts at the symposium emphasised the point that several separate actions need to be taken urgently in order to improve matters.
Among the points made was the recurring theme of funding which, the experts believe, needs to be drastically increased and clinical trial capacity to be expanded.

For further details of the conference and the views expressed by delegates, visit the MSF website at: www.msf.org/msfinternational

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