Maryland Group Moves to Get TB Vaccine for World's Poor

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"A Bethesda foundation developing vaccines for tuberculosis plans to announce a deal today with a large drug company to move forward with human tests of a promising new injection it hopes will prove useful in poor countries.

"If all goes well, the arrangement would allow the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation to produce an effective tuberculosis vaccine within a decade. The partnership is also a test of whether public health experts can help solve some of the pervasive business problems that have plagued research on vaccines for poor countries."

TB is a major global health problem, worsening due to AIDS. Since the disease was largely beaten in the rich world, the potentials in modern science have not been fully realized and applied as technologies for TB control.

"With more than $100 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of Seattle, Aeras has set out to change the situation. Under an arrangement to be announced today, Aeras will spend as much as $13 million over the next two years to accelerate work on a tuberculosis vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline PLC, of London."