Late-stage clinical testing is due to start on a new TB drug, funded in part by the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation.
The new three-drug cocktail, PaMZ, can be used both on drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB. In mid-stage testing the drug was shown to markedly reduce treatment time for drug-resistant TB, from two years to six months. Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, said the drug will also reduce the costs of treatment. He has asked other funders to support the USD $58 million trial, which will start in November.
The trial will take place in 50 locations in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. If successful, this could have a huge impact in tackling drug-resistant TB, which is on the rise throughout the world.
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