The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute, on Tuesday, announced the commencement of a Phase 3 clinical trial to assess the efficacy of the M72/AS01E tuberculosis vaccine candidate with the first doses to be given in South Africa, where TB takes a heavy toll.
If shown to be well-tolerated and effective, the vaccine could potentially become the first vaccine to help prevent pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults and become the first new TB vaccine in over a century.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute is a non-profit dedicated to developing and deploying new biomedical interventions for global health challenges including malaria, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health issues.
According to the World Health Organization, about 10.6 million people had TB in 2022 and 1.3 million died, globally.
This implies that over 3,500 people died per day of the disease.
TB is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It affects the lungs and other parts of the body and it is transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
TB is predominant in low and middle-income countries, and those at the highest risk are often steep in poverty, with poor living and working conditions, and suffer from under nutrition.
