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Europe gives € 32 million for vaccines to stop tuberculosis

The European Commission launched the largest-ever collaborative tuberculosis (TB) initiative for World TB-day, last month. Fifty-two research teams from academia and industry from 15 European and African countries are joining forces with the European Commission to help eradicate TB. Globally, TB kills 2 million people a year, with one-third of the world's population currently infected with the bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). While most cases and deaths occur in developing countries, resistant Mtb strains are mainly found among the poorest people in developed countries, as incomplete treatment increases drug resistance. The European Union is confronting the re-emerging threat of TB by investing €32 million in two overlapping research projects. This cash will be used in an accelerated effort to develop new, effective vaccines to fight TB.

The only way to eradicate TB is to find an effective vaccine. The current vaccine, BCG, only protects infants from severe TB. It fails to protect the adult population against contagious TB and can be unsafe for people infected with HIV, which is the most significant catalyst for TB in poor countries. To stop TB, new vaccines against both TB and HIV are therefore urgently needed. Researchers in the TB-VAC project will select vaccines for TB that work in adults and are safe to use in poor health infrastructure settings. The second project, MUVAPRED, focuses on vaccine delivery by developing HIV and TB vaccines that can be taken orally or as a nasal spray. Co-operation between the two projects will boost our general knowledge about TB, while the participation of industrial partners will ensure that scientific successes are translated into concrete health care results.

More information:

For more information about the projects, see press corner on European Commission Research DG web site for the complete press release and relative documents: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/press.cfm

For funding opportunities, see: http://www.cordis.lu/lifescihealth/home.html

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