Industry, NGO's and foundations are working together with more than 30 partners around the world to accelerate the discovery and development of cost-effective new drugs. The TB Alliance draws on the best practices and resources of the public and private sectors. Its mission is to accelerate the discovery and development of cost-effective new anti-TB drugs, which achieve the following goals: to shorten or simplify treatment; to provide a more effective treatment of multidrug-resistant TB; and to improve the treatment of latent TB infection. The partnership functions as a virtual R&D organization. By outsourcing drug research and development projects, drug compounds are moved along the development line to achieve regulatory approval and bring them to market at affordable prices for those countries experiencing the highest burden from TB. In 2002 the TB Alliance in-licensed a promising new compound, PA-824 with potential for a new TB treatment, from Chiron and will be undertaking further pre-clinical studies shortly. Major TB Alliance partners include: Novartis India, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry and other pharmaceutical organizations, the Global Forum for Health Research and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

GSK - TB Alliance Drug Discovery Program

In March 2005, GlaxoSmithKline and the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) announced a joint discovery partnership to improve the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). The program substantially enhances the worldwide TB drug pipeline by adding several novel classes of compounds that use new mechanisms of action. The joint research program consists of four projects intended to yield new compounds that attack Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) on multiple levels. Drug candidates arising from these projects could shorten the standard duration of treatment and, because of their novel mechanisms of action, treat patients who are resistant to conventional therapies. The research program includes the pleuromutilins, a novel class of antibiotics, and two target-based projects, isocitrate lyase (Icl) and InhA. The fourth project will screen GSK's antimicrobial libraries for novel compounds that have the ability to kill M. tb. These compounds will also be screened for their ability to be used simultaneously with HIV/AIDS treatments, known as antiretrovirals (ARVs). A shorter TB regimen is expected to improve patient compliance, increase cure rates and lower toxic side effects, thereby limiting the rise of new resistant strains. A novel TB regimen that is also compatible with HIV treatments would improve TB control and help in the fight on AIDS.