Annual Report: A New TB Drug – Global Alliance 2002-2003

A GLOBAL EMERGENCY…
In 1993, the WHO declared tuberculosis (TB) a global health emergency. Ten years later, the problem is even worse, claiming more than 5,000 lives every day. TB’s resurgence has largely been driven by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and kills one in three people co-infected with HIV/AIDS. With two-thirds of TB patients failing to receive adequate treatment, we now not only have the highest levels of TB infection in history but that number is growing.

…IS OVERWHELMING OUT-OF-DATE DRUGS…
TB treatment relies on drugs that are up to 50 years old and takes six to nine months to complete. Many patients fail to complete treatment, so they are not cured. They continue to spread the disease and can develop drug-resistant strains, which require two years of aggressive chemotherapy to treat, without guarantee of a successful cure.

…AND SHOWS NO SIGN OF LETTING UP.
If current trends continue over the next 20 years, there will be 1 billion new TB infections and 36 million people will die—one every 9 seconds. An affordable, faster-acting TB drug could effectively treat thousands more patients by reducing the time of therapy, combating drug-resistant strains and improving treatment of latent TB.

PDF: One Goal: A New TB Drug