The time is now: how we can start taking action on TB R&D

As Congress debates the budget for the upcoming year and with a new presidential administration on the horizon, more funding for tuberculosis (TB) research and development (R&D) must be a priority for current and future administrations. The U.S. government plays a fundamental role in supporting TB R&D that influences the global response to end TB. Yet continuous flat funding of science keeps us from gaining the new treatments, tests, and vaccines we need to end TB.

Treatment Action Group (TAG) released a new resource, Breathing Life into Flatlined U.S. Government Funding for Tuberculosis Research: FY 2017–2020 Allocations and Recommendation, to spark and support ongoing advocacy on TB R&D. Built upon over a decade of data from tracking funding resources, this new policy brief seeks to inform advocates and policymakers on key issues in TB R&D funding, including:

• The rise of drug-resistant TB as a critical global health security issue that requires new tools and strategies;
• The importance of U.S. government funding in past successes and in the future of innovative tests, treatments, and vaccines for TB;
• How inflation has eroded years of flat funding for TB R&D; and
• Recommendations on how to increase U.S. government funding for a more robust pipeline to combat TB.

To read and download the policy brief, click here.

Check out these resources to learn more about TB R&D funding:

• 2015 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, 2005–2014: A Decade of Data
• Flatlined: U.S. Government Investments in Tuberculosis Research and Development, 2009–2012

Source: TAG