MUCH-criticised as they are, 鈥減ublic-private partnerships鈥� between governments, charities and multinational drug companies seem at last to be delivering the goods.
Last week, a public-private partnership (PPP) called the TB Alliance started clinical trials of PA-824, a promising TB drug. It follows a major development in the fight against malaria last October when another PPP, the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, announced the most promising results yet with a vaccine.
All existing TB drugs are at least 30 years old, and new ones are urgently needed because the bacterium that causes the disease is becoming resistant to the four main antibiotics used against it. Drug giant Johnson & Johnson began trials last year of a potential TB drug code-named R207910.
Advertisement
The trial of PA-824 is the first of a TB drug from a PPP. In 2002 the alliance negotiated rights to develop and offer it in certain poorer countries where TB is rife, without having to pay royalties.
