In a promising development that seems to put the world a step closer to a better vaccine against Tuberculosis (TB), researchers have published final results from a phase 2b trial, which showed nearly 50 percent protection against active TB.

 “If we are to make inroads into the epidemic here in India and beyond we need to see a radical scale-up of preventative therapy that can help to stop the TB transmission cycle.”

That’s according to Executive Director of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), José Luis Castro, at the opening of the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health taking place in Hyderabad, India.

“We are one more cautious, but exciting, step closer to a vaccine for TB,” said Dr Paula I Fujiwara, Scientific Director of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).

He continues that, “A vaccine is the ultimate prevention tool and the announcement today is welcome news, 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,”.

TB is a disease that is preventable, treatable and curable, yet last year it killed 1.5 million people, more than HIV/AIDS.

The 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health opened with a call to end the emergency of the global TB epidemic, now responsible for killing some 1.5 million people each year.

“Ending the TB emergency starts right here in India,” said José Luis Castro, Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).

India has the highest TB burden in the world with just over one in four of all estimated global cases reported in that country.

The Indian government has made the fight against TB a central priority and boldly pledged to end TB by 2025, five years before the globally agreed target.

Director of The Union’s South-East Asia Office in New Delhi, Dr Jamhoih Tonsing said, we cannot end the TB emergency unless we dramatically scale up prevention in those parts of the world where we are treating it.

 “One in four people living with TB are in India – so it is clear that we cannot end TB globally unless we end it in India. This is why it is so important to get behind the Indian government’s commitment to ending the epidemic”.

 “We cannot eliminate TB globally unless we end it in India. So, it is both long overdue and timely that we will see some significant announcements on prevention trials and drugs at the conference this week in Hyderabad,” said Dr Tonsing, 

According to the World Health Organization’s recent Global TB Report, the number of people with TB in India is falling and that is good news.

“But let’s be honest – TB is still not falling nearly fast enough in India, progress is still too slow to meet the targets – we need to step up the pace of treatment and prevention,” concluded Tonsing.

The announcement that work on a vaccine trial is yielding encouraging progress is expected to be followed up at the conference this week with a dramatic reduction in the price of a key prevention drug and the announcement of a major clinical trial aimed at preventing multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

The Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has committed to eliminate TB in India by 2025, five years ahead of the official UN target.

The Union World Conference is the world’s largest gathering of clinicians, policymakers, public health managers, researchers and advocates working to end the suffering caused by lung disease, with a focus specifically on the challenges faced by low- and middle-income countries.

Some 3,500 delegates from over 80 countries are expected to attend.

The scale of the TB global health emergency has been acknowledged by the United Nations (UN), which held the inaugural High-Level Meeting on TB in New York last September, culminating in a Political Declaration signed by world leaders committed to ending TB by 2030. Organising international conferences on TB and related subjects has been a core activity of The Union since its founding in 1920.