TB Disease and Epidemiology
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TB and HIV Co-infection:
Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death worldwide among people who are HIV positive. While most people with TB infection do not become ill (latent TB), co-infection with HIV increases the risk of latent TB infection progressing into TB disease an estimated 50 fold per year. The TB and HIV epidemics fuel one another and an estimated one-third of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are also infected with TB (78 percent in Africa).
MDR-TB:
The emergence of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is a major global health concern. MDR-TB is difficult to treat and fails to respond to standard first-line medicines. Among all cases of TB globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately four percent of cases have MDR-TB. Two high TB-burden countries, China and India, are estimated to account for 50 percent of the world's incidence of MDR-TB1.
XDR-TB:
Recent reports describe the worldwide emergence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB, or TB that is resistant to at least two main first-line drugs and additionally to three or more of the six classes of second-line drugs. The emergence of XDR-TB is a cause for concern because it is widely distributed geographically, including in the United States, and renders patients virtually untreatable with available drugs. At least 58 countries have reported an incidence of XDR-TB2.
Collaboration between the TB Alliance and Tibotec:
The two organizations share their expertise and resources in the development of TMC207, potentially the first TB compound with a new mechanism of action in 40 years. Additionally, the organizations will collaborate toward the discovery of new drugs for TB. Ortho Biotech LLP, on behalf of Tibotec, and the TB Alliance signed the collaboration agreement in June 2009.
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1 World Health Organization Multidrug and Extensively Drug-resistant TB (M/XDR-TB) 2010 Report on Surveillance and Response.
2 Ibid.
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