VOL.50   /  2024.06.28

The Stop TB Partnership, Country-Level Platform Partnerships – Stories from the field of May 2024

TB takes centre stage at the UN hearing on AMR; New WHO report recognizes TB as a top threat to human health - Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance

The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members on WHO Technical Advisory Group on clinical and policy considerations for new TB vaccines. Full details about the call are available here including information about the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection. The deadline for applications is 12 July 2024.

WHO published the report of the 2nd meeting of the Paediatric drug optimization for TB (PADO-TB2) group, held on 3-5 October 2023, providing an updated list of priorities for paediatric formulations of TB medicines. PAediatric Drug Optimization (PADO) exercises are convened by WHO for various diseases to accelerate access to optimal formulations in the context of small markets for medicines for children.

WHO plans to update its guidance on use of interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) for the detection of TB infection. The aim of the update is to compare new (index) IGRAs with the IGRAs currently recommended by WHO (reference tests) for the diagnosis of TB infection. Relevant data is collected until 30 June 2024. Full details about the call are available here.

WHO released new guidance on TB surveillance, aiming to ensure the continued worldwide standardization of TB surveillance, in the context of WHO’s End TB Strategy, the latest WHO guidelines on TB screening, prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and commitments made at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB.

WHO released the consolidated guidelines on HIV-associated TB (TB/HIV) providing a single comprehensive source for the latest evidence-informed TB/HIV recommendations. The guidelines are part of WHO’s Consolidated guidelines on TB and comorbidities To facilitate their implementation, WHO also published operational guidance on TB/HIV as part of the Operational handbook on TB and comorbidities.

The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization released new Guidance on social protection for people affected by TB. The guidance includes approaches to expanding the coverage, quality and impact of existing social protection programs to people affected by TB.

WHO released its updated Bacterial priority pathogens list 2024, featuring 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grouped into critical, high and medium categories for prioritization, and providing guidance on the development of new and necessary treatments to stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis was added as a critical priority pathogen.

First ever international leadership summit of medical associations on achieving UNHLM targets to END TB concludes with the Kochi Declaration

SMART4TB invites you to take part in a 15-minute diagnostic questionnaire, Understanding preferences for TB point-of-care diagnostics to inform the development of new tests. It aims to understand the opinions of TB healthcare workers, policymakers, researchers, and affected communities regarding their priorities for bringing TB diagnosis closer to point-of-care for patients. The questionnaire can be accessed here.

On 15 May 2024, Treatment Action Group (TAG) hosted a webinar on TB diagnostics pipeline: New tools & opportunities to improve access to testing. The webinar provided an overview of the TB diagnostics research and development pipeline; highlighted promising new tools that are nearing the end of the pipeline; and raised key policy and implementation considerations. Access the webinar recording here.

National TB programs in 13 countries worked with the Regional Office of the World Health Organization for Europe (WHO/Europe) from 2020 to 2023 to examine treatment outcomes for people on 9-month treatment regimens for multidrug-resistant TB. The findings, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, provided important evidence showing high levels of safety and efficacy.

A candidate vaccine for TB has been created using a gene-editing approach. Researchers sought to modify the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine to make it more effective at controlling the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mice injected with the edited BCG vaccine had less M. tuberculosis growth in their lungs than mice that received the original vaccine.

Researchers reported the successful formulation of clofazimine spray-dried poly (lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles as an efficient treatment for TB. In treating TB, oral therapy often fails to achieve therapeutic concentrations at the primary infection site, the lungs. As such, the aforementioned formulation was developed to provide localized drug delivery and minimize systemic adverse effects.

Influenza-like reactions in patients with latent TB infection receiving weekly isoniazid plus rifapentine for 3 months (3HP) or daily isoniazid for 9 months (9H) were not found to be mediated by the presence of drug antibodies against isoniazid, rifapentine, and rifapentine metabolite, according to findings published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease released the June 2024 issue of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD). The RESIST-TB June 2024 newsletter with the latest updates and research publications on drug-resistant TB can be accessed here.