Have your voice heard - share your views and opinions on draft TB Key Asks to be included in the HLM Political Declaration; Deadline: 21 March 2023.

Results from a community-based trial of a new package for diagnosing TB emphasise the importance of moving towards an active case finding approach for the disease.

GENEVA/WASHINGTON, 09 March 2023 – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Stop TB Partnership announced a new collaboration today with Molbio Diagnostics that significantly reduces the price of the Truenat® MTB and MTB Plus tests, including a supply of MTB-RIF Dx tests for subsequent testing for rifampicin resistance, and ensures timely service and maintenance of diagnostic instruments. This collaboration will expand equitable access to quality rapid testing to underserved populations across all countries supported by the Global Fund, USAID and the Stop TB Partnership.

A push to include the latest WHO-recommended TB regimens in the current round of funding requests to the Global Fund.

The EU Health Policy Platform Thematic Network on HIV, TB and viral hepatitis (VH) hosted a webinar on 16 February 2023 providing an overview of key standards of care for people living with or most affected by HIV/AIDS, VH, TB (especially drug-resistant) and gaps. It also looked at ways to ensure continued prevention and care for displaced and mobile people and other migrant populations.

A novel compound that has the potential to starve the bacteria that causes tuberculosis – the world’s leading infectious killer after SARS-CoV2 – is entering human clinical trials.

Tuberculosis may seem like a relic of the past in wealthy countries, yet it still kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease besides COVID – with about 1.6 million people dying from TB annually. And the one approved vaccine – invented more than a century ago – is only reliably protective when given to children.

A clinical trial testing a freeze-dried, temperature-stable experimental tuberculosis (TB) vaccine in healthy adults found that it was safe and stimulated both antibodies and responses from the cellular arm of the immune system. The Phase 1 trial was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. A non-temperature stable form of the candidate previously had been tested in several clinical trials. However, this was the first clinical trial of any subunit TB vaccine candidate in a temperature-stable (thermostable) form. Results are published in Nature Communications.

RESIST-TB will host a webinar on 9 March 2023, Drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) drugs under the microscope. The speakers will present on pricing elements and intellectual property/licensing for DR-TB medicines.

The Multi-stakeholder hearing on TB will be held on 8-9 May 2023, providing an opportunity for all relevant stakeholders to contribute to the ongoing preparatory process for the upcoming UN High-Level Meeting on TB.