India may become the first country to roll-out TB treatment
17/08/2017
NEW DELHI: India could potentially become the first country to roll-out a treatment for tuberculosis (TB), for the rest of the world. According to a first of its kind agreement signed on Wednesday, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and US-based drug company Johnson & Johnson will work together to accelerate discovery and approval of innovative new treatments for tuberculosis .
Under the memorandum of understanding, scientists from Johnson & Johnson will work closely with researchers from CSIR's Chandigarh-based arm, IMTECH, on a research and development programme to explore potentially more effective, safer, all-oral treatment regimens to tackle multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), as well as new molecular entities to treat all TB patients.
"We are united with India in our determination to make TB history," said Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer, Johnson & Johnson, who joined Harsh Vardhan, minister for science and technology, at an event in New Delhi, to announce the partnership.
"While we have made great advances in recent years with the approval of new TB medicines much more needs to be done. By bringing together some of India's brightest minds with our scientists, we increase the potential to achieve major research
breakthroughs that can lead to innovative new treatments for the millions of people in India and around the world who suffer from TB."
The new research programme will capitalize on CSIR-IMTECH's world-class expertise in microbial technology and research and the proven research and development capabilities of Johnson & Johnson's pharma company Janssen to strengthen the collective potential of both entities, says a company statement.
"TB remains a significant challenge in India, killing approximately half a million-people in 2015 alone," said Anil Koul director, CSIR-IMTECH. "The partnership we have
announced today with Johnson & Johnson has the potential to accelerate our work in support of the India's National Strategic Plan, our accelerated action plan to end TB by
2025, and most importantly save lives."
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