GSK and TB Alliance launch drug discovery program

The program substantially enhances the worldwide tuberculosis (TB) drug pipeline by adding several novel classes of compounds that use new mechanisms of action.

The joint research program consists of a portfolio of four projects intended to yield new compounds that attack mycobacterium tuberculosis (M tb) on multiple levels. Drug candidates arising from these projects could shorten the treatment time for patients with TB and, because of their novel mechanisms of action, treat patients who are resistant to conventional therapies.

These compounds will also be screened for their ability to be used simultaneously with HIV/AIDS treatments, known as antiretrovirals (ARVs). TB is a leading cause of death among people living with HIV/AIDS, but today simultaneous TB-HIV treatment is extremely difficult due to drug-drug interactions between some ARVs and current TB drugs.

“This partnership makes a significant contribution to the increasingly robust TB drug pipeline,” said Dr Maria Freire, president and CEO of the TB Alliance. “Ultimately, the revolution in TB treatment will be based on the best combinations of novel drugs. By joining both parties’ expertise and committing to affordability, we are making a major step forward in solving a complex global health problem.”

The research program includes the pleuromutilins, a novel class of antibiotics, and two target-based projects, isocitrate lyase (Icl) and InhA. The fourth project will screen GSK’s antimicrobial libraries for novel compounds that have the ability to kill M tb. The program will be overseen by a joint steering committee and is based at GSK’s Tres Cantos, Spain facility.

The TB Alliance’s goal is to develop an entirely new therapeutic regimen that will shorten and simplify current TB treatment, which currently takes six to nine months to complete. In addition to supporting platform technologies, the TB Alliance is developing nitroimidazopyrans, quinolones, macrolides and other classes of antibiotics.