Tuberculosis is preventable, treatable and curable, yet last year it killed 1.5-million people, more than HIV/Aids. A vaccine is the ultimate prevention tool, and the GSK/IAVI M72 candidate shows promise to this end.
“We are one more cautious, but exciting, step closer to a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB),” says Dr Paula I Fujiwara, scientific director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).
“A vaccine is the ultimate prevention tool, but as researchers discuss how to move the trial into its final phase, we simultaneously need to be doing all we can to prevent tuberculosis with medications that we already have at our disposal.”
“We cannot end the TB emergency unless we dramatically scale up prevention in those parts of the world where we are treating it. The cost of inaction is more unnecessary suffering and death,” says Fujiwara.