Stop TB Partnership - Global Advocacy for Resource Mobilization

New York, May 14, 2007 - The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit, product development partnership accelerating the discovery and development of new TB drugs, today released results from the first comprehensive study of the dynamics of the global TB drug market that offers a detailed analysis of how today’s TB medicines reach patients around the world, and an estimate of the value of the global market for first-line TB treatments.

The study, Pathway to Patients: Charting the Dynamics of the Global TB Drug Market, reveals the variability and complexities faced at all levels of the TB drug supply chain; the highly fragmented nature of the global marketplace in terms of purchase, supply and delivery; the important role of local and national governments in procurement and distribution; and the limited commercial market potential for new TB drugs.

"The absence of a viable commercial market has clearly held back TB drug research for decades," said Maria C. Freire, CEO and President of the TB Alliance. "This groundbreaking study reaffirms the mission of the TB Alliance to develop new, faster and better TB drugs, and the importance of working to ensure these lifesaving new cures reach all those who need them."

Pathway to Patients studied the TB drug market in ten strategically selected countries, including high burden, emerging and high income markets (Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) to obtain country specific market data and provide a comprehensive understanding in eight key countries of procurement and distribution systems.

The study projects an estimate of the global market for first-line TB drugs of approximately US$315 million per year, including high income country sales of the four first-line drugs commonly used to treat drug susceptible disease. Although researchers found that a number of factors limited the ability to estimate the global market for treatment for drug resistant disease, they were able to determine that US$54 million is spent annually on the more expensive, second-line treatments in the ten countries studied.

"Understanding how drugs actually reach patients is critical," said Nina Schwalbe, TB Alliance Director of Policy. "We know that desperately needed new cures that shorten and simplify TB treatment will only be effective if they are available to those who need them. This research offers valuable insights into what we at the TB Alliance and others will need to do to get new drug regimens to patients."

Read more:

Pathway to Patients Compendium

Pathway to Patients Overview

and kindly add the link to global alliance at the bottom of the page:

www.tballiance.org

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[Apr-16-2007]
African countries should allocate sufficient funds and implement appropriate policies to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which include targets to reduce HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, advocates said last week, Inter Press Service reports. Representatives from 143 member organizations of the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS and Allies at the summit of African Union health ministers in Johannesburg, South Africa, urged African governments to set aside 15% of their national budgets for health care, as well as engage civil society and ministers to mobilize resources to combat TB. Countries also should aim during the next 10 years to bridge the funding gap for TB control of almost $11 billion, the coalition said. "We cannot meet the MDGs at this pace," Regis Mtutu of the Treatment Action Campaign said, adding, "We need to double up our efforts through some extraordinary work, particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria." The coalition presented a petition with the recommendations to the A.U. commission for health (Nduru, Inter Press Service, 3/12).

"TB patients: Some don’t... some do, Some won’t... some will"

The Lancet (www.thelancet.com)

We read with interest the International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC) published in the November, 2006 issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases (1). Focusing primarily on essential activities that all practitioners - public and private- should endorse regarding the management of patients diagnosed with suspected or confirmed tuberculosis, the ISTC brings to the forefront the responsibilities of all providers in delivering quality care to their patients. However, of equal interest is the recent publication of The Patients Charter for Tuberculosis Care (2) which addresses the rights and responsibilities of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis and which was developed in tandem with the ISTC. ...

Action for Global Health has been started simultaneously in Brussels, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. They are monitoring how the actions and policies of European governments affect health in developing countries. They are inviting other NGOs and civil society organisations to join with them to build a European campaign to ensure that governments, the private sector and European institutions fulfil the promises they have made to reduce the rates of infant and maternal mortality and slowing down the spread of transmissible diseases in the world's poorest countries. To find out more click the link above.

Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Special theme: tuberculosis control; Promising new tools for prevention, detection and cure; How reliable are the data?; The Global Drugs Facility; Barriers to completing treatment; Russian region reports progress; Public health classic: lessons from the past; Interview: Jorge Sampaio, UN special envoy to Stop TB

Global map reveals XDR-TB cases

This month, WHO Stop TB launches a global map illustrating countries where XDR-TB has been confirmed, to coincide with preparations for countries to carry out rapid surveys of drug-resistance, as recommended by the WHO Global Task Force on XDR-TB in October 2006. The surveys will estimate the extent of XDR-TB within at-risk populations, and indicate whether further investigations are required. Laboratory capacity is being strengthened as part of the surveillance strategy, to ensure patients will have improved access to diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant TB.

UNAIDS aligning with Stop TB
1 December, Geneva
Today Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, called for a collective response to MDR and XDR-TB
Read more here.

Dr Piots' speech to the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board

WHO Press Release, Jakarta, Indonesia
29 November 2006 - Killer diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS are often forgotten while the whole world’s attention is now focusing on new emerging and epidemic/ pandemic potential diseases.
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The number of ACSM Working Group members is: 281.