David Lewinsohn
Working Group on New TB Vaccines

As we look across the spectrum of TB vaccine research, we can see that researchers are working hard and that work is leading to incredible advances.

We can see the promise of TB vaccines that prevent infection, and we can see the promise of TB vaccines that prevent infection from developing into TB disease. And we are seeing the promise of giving vaccines to people of all ages. We are seeing the promise of giving vaccines to people with different vulnerabilities, including HIV.

There are several TB vaccine candidates in late-stage clinical trials. And in recent years, we have seen vaccine trials demonstrate promising results.

In phase 2b research, the M72 vaccine from GSK prevented TB disease in 50% of adults who are living with TB infection.

The science right now supports the feasibility and possibility of developing new, more effective TB vaccines.

There are also some exciting new developments in earlier stages of research. In nonhuman primates, which is the closest model we have to human TB, we've seen that intravenous BCG can actually prevent infection, and a viral vectored vaccine, cytomegalovirus, can prevent progression to disease once infected. These are both
outcomes that we would desperately like to see in human vaccination studies. And finally, we have seen that aerosol delivery of BCG can limit TB in non-human primates.

Research is currently underway to develop a controlled human infection model, also known as a human challenge model, for TB. These studies are conducted in highly controlled conditions and involve intentionally infecting healthy adult volunteers with
weakened strains of a pathogen to assess a vaccine's protective ability at earlier stages of development and before conducting large-scale clinical studies. Controlled human infection models have played an important role in accelerating vaccine development for
other infectious diseases, such as malaria, RSV and influenza.

These are really just a few examples of the progress and exciting developments in TB vaccine research, but additional funding will be needed to advance these and other developments through the stages of research.