Access to fast, safe and effective treatment for TB remains a concern: Sandeep Juneja

Mumbai, August  27, 2021:

Access to fast, safe and effective treatment for tuberculosis (TB) remains a concern because this access is limited to some parts of the world. Each year, around 10 million people develop active TB, close to 40% of these individuals are “missed” each year and do not get the TB care they need and deserve, stated Sandeep Juneja, senior vice president, Market Access of TB Alliance.

TB Alliance is a New York based not-for-profit organisation, dedicated for the discovery and development of new, fast acting, affordable tuberculosis medicines. Its focus is on ensuring global commitments to fund TB for treatment innovation and accessibility.

TB research is overwhelmingly funded by a small list of high income countries and philanthropic funding. However, total TB R&D funding was $670 million in 2020,  that has been largely stagnant over the past decade and more than $1 billion short of what’s needed to develop the drugs, diagnostics and vaccines we need.

“Drug-resistant forms of TB can take up to 2 years, or even longer, to cure and can also be too costly for patients to afford on their own, or for governments to subsidize the costs, which creates additional barriers to treatment,” stated Juneja.

TB Alliance has led research and helped develop new TB treatment regimens, such as BPaL, for this reason, to provide access to fast-acting, and affordable TB treatment options for some of the worst forms of TB.

Juneja added, “While the current challenges India faces due to Covid-19 have disrupted treatment for many TB patients, access to short and standardised TB treatments are urgently needed to reduce the risk of those developing drug resistant TB and help those in India facing the worst of the TB pandemic.  India has set an ambitious goal to eradicate TB in India by 2025. Last year’s approval of pretomanid in India as part of a regimen for treatment of some of the worst forms of TB is the first approval in a country with a high TB burden. By embracing innovation, India has an opportunity to lead the charge to end TB and meet its ambitious goals for eradication.”

As one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world, controlling the spread of TB requires both a focus on prevention and treatment, especially for high burden TB countries. This includes research and development of vaccines and new drugs for the various types of TB, including latent TB and drug-resistant TB.

Juneja stated that as a disease that has been around for over 100 years and disproportionately impacts the poor, there is little profit-driven motive to drive research.

TB Alliance added that it has played a key role in developing new treatment options and pursuing innovation in TB response, but more tools are needed to eradicate the disease

The partnership with Astella Pharmaceuticals is leading research to identify new compounds for drug-resistant tuberculosis, or mycobacterium tuberculosis. The collaboration aligns with TB Alliance’s commitment to advance innovation of new regimens and ensure their accessibility.

Juneja added, “We manage the single largest pipeline of TB drugs including pretomanid, which received DCGI approval last year as part of a six-month, 90% successful regimen treatment for highly drug-resistant forms of TB, which had until recently been considered a death sentence.”

In addition, new results from a TB Alliance study called ZeNix show that the efficacy of this regimen can be maintained with lower dosing of the drug linezolid while also reducing side effects of the regimen, which is welcome news for patients. PharmaBiz