Welcome
Recognizing that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) knows no borders, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) has developed a global tuberculosis (TB) R&D agenda to fight this illness. The resurgence in TB rates and the growing incidence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extremely drug resistant TB (XDR-TB) has sparked a renewed commitment by government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and the private sector to begin developing new drugs to fight TB. The general consensus among infectious disease experts is that the entire world will be at risk for TB epidemics in the future and new, more effective drugs are desperately needed to facilitate treatment and control of tuberculosis.
A key component in advancing new interventions for TB is the creation of productive partnerships between biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and NIAID. To achieve this objective, the NIAID has established a consortium of drug discovery and development resources to:
- stimulate biotechnology company investment in TB drug development and
- help reduce risks and costs associated with the development process
NIAID supports these efforts through its own laboratory research as well as through extramural support from universities and other research organizations. All groups collaborate with industry to integrate drug development expertise in the programs.
As part of NIAIDs TB Drug Development Program, RTI International is actively facilitating partnerships between biotechnology companies, research labs, foundations, and international organizations to cooperatively develop, test, and introduce new TB therapies. Find out how.
