The Stop TB Partnership Working Group on TB Drug Development held its annual meeting on October 29, 2004. Led by the Working Group’s Chair, Dr. Maria C. Freire, and Secretary, Dr. Barbara Laughon of NIH, the meeting shared activities by key industry partners and outlined the Stop TB Partnership agenda for the coming year.
Dr. Freire reviewed the Working Group (WG) functions and structure, welcomed new members and guests, and selected highlights of WG activities from the past year.
Dr. Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership outlined the vision of the Partnership’s seven working groups. Dr. Dermot Maher, of WHO Stop TB, described the plans to collaborate with all working groups to prepare the Second Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis, a major policy and funding blueprint for the TB community.
Working Group Secretary, Dr. Barbara Laughon introduced the TB drug development landscape and the invited speakers to share reports of selected of WG activities:
- Dr. Martin Springsklee of Bayer Pharmaceuticals shared details on Bayer’s participation in exploring moxifloxacin for TB indication;
- Dr. Federico Gomez de las Heras of GlaxoSmithKline articulated GSK’s commitment to developing drugs for TB at the Tres Cantos facility in Spain; and
- Dr. John Rex of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals discussed the company’s strategy on early-stage discovery to develop anti-mycobacterials, especially to fight resistant strains of TB.
For more information about the Working Group on TB Drug Development, please email StopTBDrugWG@tballiance.org