HPA receives EU funding for TB initiative

Health Protection Agency (HPA) Porton Down is to receive a share of Euro 32m funding from the European Commission for its role in the largest-ever collaborative tuberculosis initiative.

HPA's role is to provide pre-clinical evaluation of proposed new vaccines. A total of 52 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 2m 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. The EU is confronting the re-emerging threat of TB by investing Euro 32m in two overlapping research projects. This cash will be used in an accelerated effort to develop new, effective vaccines.

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 general knowledge about TB, while the participation of industrial partners will ensure that scientific successes are translated into concrete health care results,' said Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin.

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.