22 Jul 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D, TB News

TAG 2010 Pipeline Report

Treatment Action Group (TAG) recently released their TAG 2010 Pipeline Report, an annual report that explores the progress and overall state of drug development in the fields of HIV, Tuberculosis, and Viral Hepatitis. The report covers the development of drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, immune-based therapies, and preventative technologies in development in each field.

7 Jul 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D

This week in TB R&D – 7 July 2010

In our latest ‘Sanatorium Files’ post ‘Diagnosis Dilemma’, we commented on the current advances in TB diagnostics. We’re following up on this theme for the next couple of posts to share the scientific data supporting some of the most promising of these new diagnostic tools. 
This year, two reports were published in the Journal of Clinical [...]

7 Jul 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D, TB News

TB Alliance: New Potential TB Drugs to be Investigated Against Multiple Neglected Diseases

New York, United States and Geneva, Switzerland — July 7, 2010 The TB Alliance and Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) announced today a unique first-ever royalty-free license agreement between two not-for-profit drug developers that speeds progress toward markedly improved therapy of multiple neglected diseases.

29 Jun 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D, TB News

This Week in TB R&D – 29 June 2010

By far, one of the greatest needs in TB R&D is the identification of biomarkers. The value of biomarkers cannot be overemphasized. Briefly, we will highlight what biomarkers are, how they are used, and describe their importance and potential for significant impact for TB drug discovery.

1 Jun 2010
by Gerry Waters

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D

This Week in TB R&D – 1 June 2010

A team of researchers led by Rainer Kalscheuer and Bill Jacobs at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York recently published a paper titled “Self-poisoning of M. tuberculosis by targeting GlgE in an alpha-glucan pathway” in Nature Chemical Biology (2010, vol 6, pg 376). From the perspective of basic biology, the work represents the first time a biosynthetic pathway from the disaccharide trehalose to alpha-glucan, a polysaccharide with several potential functions, has been described.

27 Apr 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D, TB News

The Week in TB R&D – 27 April 2010

In a post a few weeks ago, we highlighted HeroRats, African-pouch rats, and their use for TB diagnoses.  As described in that article, these rats are trained to distinguish positive TB samples verses negative TB samples presumably due to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOC) produced by M. tb.   Not surprisingly, review of the [...]

13 Apr 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Events, Front Lines of TB R&D

This week in TB R&D – 12 April 2010

On April 6th, the New York Academy of Sciences hosted a mini-symposium entitled ‘Tuberculosis: Novel Therapies through Knowledge of the Genetics of the Causative Agent.’ The five research scientists who presented were: William R. Jacobs, Jr. (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Christopher Sassetti (University of Massachusetts Medical School), Dirk Schnappinger (Weill Cornell Medical College), Helena [...]

May 2010 issue of IJTLD now available online

The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) is the official publication of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). The latest issue (May 2010) is now available online.

6 Apr 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D, TB News

This Week in TB R&D – 5 April 2010

Many antibiotics used today to fight and control M. tb infection target cell wall synthesis or DNA replication, and related pathogen growth mechanisms. A recent report by Zhou et al. in PNAS at the beginning of year, suggested an alternate mechanism for M. tb elimination; targeting MptpB, a mycobacterium specific protein tyrosine phosphatase.

30 Mar 2010
by Working Group

Posted in Front Lines of TB R&D

This Week in TB R&D – 30 March 2010

The use of animal models for drug discovery is indisputable. However, the use of animal models as viable diagnostic tools is still relatively novel, especially for TB detection.