The TBVI consortium has been granted 24.6 million euros from the European Commission H2020 framework programme (€18.2 mln.) and several institutions as well as national governments outside the EC, among others Switzerland, South Korea and Australia. With this grant the new TBVAC2020 project will be funded, so TBVI can continue its efforts to discover and develop new tuberculosis vaccines.

The tuberculosis vaccine candidate MTBVAC is the only vaccine in clinical trials based on an attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain of human origin. In various animal models, MTBVAC confers a similar attenuation and greater immunity than the current BCG vaccine against tuberculosis. BCG is a Mycobacterium bovis derivative, isolated from cows in the early twentieth century, which does not protect against respiratory forms of tuberculosis. MTBVAC is developed by TBVI’s research partner University of Zaragoza in collaboration with biopharmaceutical company Biofabri.

13th - 17th October 2014, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya

Scarce global funding for the development of new tuberculosis vaccines forces to select rigorously in the current portfolio of TB vaccine candidates. Because it’s not possible to support all vaccine candidates, TBVI developed an instrument to make the right decisions in order to advance vaccine development: portfolio management. This is announced in TBVI's annual report, released today.

TBVI, together with Fundación Ramón Areces and the University of Zaragoza, will organise an international symposium on 7-8 May 2014 in Madrid. This symposium will provide a stage to world leaders in the field of new vaccines against TB, to present to the scientific community their efforts and the results of the latest research. Among them are many scientists of TBVI's research partners. This symposium is open to everyone interested in TB vaccine development.

To join TBVI in submitting a proposal for the EC Horizon2020 call: Vaccine development for poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases: tuberculosis

In November 2013 the collaborative infrastructure programme ‘European Research Infrastructures for Poverty Related Diseases’ (EURIPRED) will start in order to reinforce the knowledge infrastructure across diseases. The ultimate aim is to speed the development of new tools (vaccines, drugs, microbicides) to combat Tuberculosis, HIV, Malaria, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. EURIPRED is co-funded with €8.5M by the European Commission. Scientists from 17 research partners in 10 countries, including TBVI, will collaborate in this new programme.

A phase I safety study of TB vaccine candidate MTBVAC, the first live-attenuated Mycobacterium  tuberculosis-based vaccine to enter clinical trials, shows very good results in the first intermediate analysis. Although the study is not finished yet, the 36 volunteers did not show any signs of disease or side effects so far. “In my experience, it is one of the safest vaccines ever tested,” says Professor François Spertini of the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) in Switzerland, the Principal Investigator of the trial. “But a further nine months of investigation is necessary to further validate safety and ascertain whether the vaccine is also effective.”

Friday 1 November 12h45 – 14h15
Hotel Le Méridien Etoile, 81 Boulevard Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, Paris (directly near the Palais des Congrès in Paris where the 44th Union World Conference on Lung Health will be held)

Tuberculosis (TB) remains an urgent global health problem with 1.4 million deaths per year. New vaccines will have a huge impact in combating the disease, including the growing threat of drug resistant TB. TBVI aims to contribute to the development of new TB vaccines by supporting research partners in universities, research institutes and private companies.