TB Alliance Board of Directors Appoints Three New Members
New Stakeholders Association President Joins Board as Member Ex Officio
For Immediate Release:
Leading Experts in Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Tuberculosis Research will Help Guide Effort to Develop Faster, Better Treatments for TB
NEW YORK (Nov. 30, 2006) - The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) today announced the appointment of Dr. Anthony MBewu, Dr. George A. Scangos and Dr. Peter M. Small to its Board of Directors; and the election of Dr. Petro Terblanche as President of its Stakeholders Association and Board Member ex officio.
The TB Alliance is a not-for-profit, product development partnership leading the discovery and development of affordable, new TB drugs that will shorten and ease treatment, be effective against drug resistant strains, be compatible for HIV-TB patients on antiretroviral therapies, and improve treatment of latent infection.
"We are pleased to welcome these new members who are committed to helping accelerate the development of new TB drugs," said Dr. Gijs Elzinga, Chairman of the Board for the TB Alliance, and Director of Public Health at The Netherlands' National Institute of Public Health and Environment Protection. "Their range of knowledge - from tuberculosis research and drug development, to public health collaboration and access - will greatly enhance our efforts to fast-track critically needed new TB drugs in the race to save millions of lives each year."
Dr. MBewu is President of the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC), and is renowned for his efforts to improve health access and health science in the developing world. During his 10 years at the MRC the organization has doubled its government grants and research portfolio, becoming one of the leading health research institutions in Africa. A cardiologist by training, Dr. MBewu is a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the Special Programme for Training and Research in Tropical Disease, and is Co-Chairperson of the Inter Academy Medical Panel. In 2003, he was appointed Chairperson of the Ministerial National Task Team, preparing the "Operational Plan for the Comprehensive Prevention, Treatment and Care of HIV and AIDS in South Africa," which in the past two and a half years has enrolled 250,000 patients into treatment.
Dr. Scangos is President and Chief Executive Officer of Exelixis, an innovative biotechnology company, and a renowned expert in biotechnology, research and product development. He held several key positions at Bayer Corporation, including Senior Vice President of Research and Development for Bayer's pharmaceutical division, and then President of Bayer Biotechnology. Dr. Scangos serves on the Boards of Directors of Anadys Pharmaceuticals and Entelos, Inc., as well as Exelixis. He began his career on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University, where he now holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Biology. Dr. Scangos received a BA from Cornell University, a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts, and was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Frank Ruddle at Yale University.
Dr. Small is Senior Program Officer for Tuberculosis at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and a leading expert in infectious diseases and tuberculosis research. At the Gates Foundation, he is responsible for developing and implementing the Foundation's tuberculosis-related investments. He has served as Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he also directed the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program and worked at the Stanford Center for Tuberculosis Research. He also runs a research laboratory at the Institute for Systems Biology. Dr. Small has served as a member of the WHO Stop TB Coordinating Board, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, and is on the Institute of Medicine's committee addressing the elimination of tuberculosis in the United States.
Dr. Terblanche is Executive Director, Technology and Business Development Directorate, at the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC). She is a member of the MRC's Strategic Management Team, and an expert in intellectual property management and public health collaborations. Since 2005, Dr. Terblanche also has been Honorary Professor at the University of Pretoria, in the School of Health Systems and Public Health. Prior to her position at the MRC, she was Executive Director of the Food, Biological and Chemical Technologies Division at South Africa's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, one of the leading scientific and technology research, development and implementation organizations in Africa.
In addition to these new board appointments, the TB Alliance also welcomes two new members to its Scientific Advisory Committee, which provides technical expertise on drug research, development, manufacturing, and distribution, as well as other medical and scientific issues. Dr. G. Lynn Marks of GlaxoSmithKline and Dr. Eve E. Slater, an independent consultant, will each serve a three-year term, and join the 15 member advisory panel with experts from a wide range of relevant scientific disciplines.
About the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) is a not-for-profit, product development partnership accelerating the discovery and/or development of affordable, new TB drugs that will shorten treatment, be effective against drug-resistant strains, be compatible for HIV-TB patients on antiretroviral therapies, and improve treatment of latent infection. Working with public and private partners worldwide, it is leading the development of the first, most comprehensive portfolio of TB drug candidates in decades. The TB Alliance operates with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), and Irish Aid. For more information on TB Drug Development and the TB Alliance, please visit http://www.tballiance.org/.