2015 TAG Update
TAG’s annual review of progress we’ve made on the the fight to end HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, and Tuberculosis.
2015 Symposium: Scale Up to Get Down to Zero TB Deaths, New Infections, and Suffering
On December 4, 2015, in Cape Town, South Africa, Treatment Action Group, Harvard Medical School, Partners In Health, Treatment Action Campaign, and the Stop TB Partnership sponsored a symposium in conjunction with the Union World Conference in Barcelona. The symposium,…
An Activist’s Guide to Regulatory Issues: Ensuring Fair Evaluation of and Access to Tuberculosis Treatment
Medical regulatory authorities fulfill an essential role by evaluating research and marketing applications for new products. They approve or reject applications based on data indicating safety, efficacy, and quality, gathered from scientifically controlled methods of data collection.
Tuberculosis Research Funding Crisis Imperils Elimination Goal
Worldwide funding for tuberculosis (TB) research fell $1.3 billion short of global targets in 2014, according to a report released today by Treatment Action Group (TAG). Total funding of US$674,036,492 in 2014 amounted to barely one-third of the US$2 billion experts estimate the world must spend on TB research and development (R&D) each year to eliminate TB. Alarmingly, funding for TB drug research fell by US$25 million compared with 2013. Overall, funding for TB R&D fell by US$12 million.
2015 Report on TB Research Funding Trends
Working in tuberculosis (TB) research has long meant laboring with too little and waiting for what comes too late. In recent years, an emergent optimism has crept into TB research, but too often the individuals and institutions that comprise the TB research field find their good ideas and energy put on hold by insufficient funding.
The FDA’s Concession Conundrum
Can regulatory incentives promote responsible TB drug development? By Lindsay McKenna and Erica Lessem There are woefully few drugs in development with the potential to improve the safety and effectiveness of tuberculosis (TB) treatment. Indeed, the market-driven approach to drug…
Improving Regulatory Systems to Address Global TB Drug Access Failures
Worldwide inefficiencies in drug approval processes are proving disastrous for people living with TB and other diseases By Erica Lessem Access to safe and effective tuberculosis (TB) medicines depends greatly on efficient and stringent regulatory review, without which improved health…
TAGline Fall 2015
In Defense of Stringency: In response to growing public concern with health risks posed by approved drugs, a 2006 landmark report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) argued that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lacks the unambiguous authority necessary to ensure the safety and efficacy of the country’s medicinal products.
2015 Pipeline Report
Drugs, Diagnostics, Vaccines, Preventive Technologies, Research Toward a Cure, and Immune-Based and Gene Therapies in Development.
TB R&D’s Shift to the Left
As the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation realigns its TB vaccine strategy to focus on early-stage candidate development, equitable access priorities must also be established before large-scale trials are conducted By Mike Frick The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has…