TB consortium awarded €24m international grant

A TB medical research consortium has been awarded a multimillion euro grant to help discover and develop new tuberculosis vaccines.

The non-profit research group TBVI will use the grant to progress the TBVAC2020 project. The funding comes from the European Commission through Horizon 2020, as well as several research institutes and national governments, both inside and outside the EU.

Speaking about the announcement, Dr Nick Drager, TBVI’s executive director said: “These funds will enable us to continue our longstanding and effective collaboration with top European laboratories; to add new partners in research and development efforts to innovate; diversify the TB vaccine and biomarker pipeline; and to support and accelerate the development of the most promising vaccine candidates through early development stages.”

TBVI supports, integrates, translates and prioritises R&D efforts to discover and develop new TB vaccines that are accessible and affordable for all. It also acts as a support platform for vaccine researchers and developers.

Adding his thoughts, Professor Dr Stefan Kaufmann, chair of the steering committee of the new project and academic of the Max Planck Institute said: “Still there is an urgent need for innovative vaccine candidates that perform better. This can best be achieved by interdisciplinary research and development. TBVAC 2020 has gathered the best European TB researchers and hence is excellently positioned to accomplish this important goal.”

The Commission has committed €26m to two new TB research consortia in the first year of Horizon 2020.