Tuberculosis is an ancient disease that has killed presidents, kings, famed poets, and artists. Despite that, there remains no effective vaccine to protect adults from TB. The only licensed vaccine for TB is more than a century old and provides only moderate protection against severe forms of the disease in infants and young children.
But the world shouldn’t lose hope. In fact, Jeremy Farrar, the chief scientist at the World Health Organization, tells Jenny that he’s “never been more optimistic” that in this decade, the world will have tools that will transform the response to the disease.
For one, there’s the M72 vaccine candidate that has shown 50% efficacy in preventing pulmonary TB disease in phase 2b trials. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome this year announced $550 million to conduct phase 3 trials of the vaccine candidate in multiple countries.