Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says progress is being made in the clinical trial of the M72 tuberculosis vaccine and is optimistic that it offers 70 percent efficacy.
Mr. Gates said this while responding to a question from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during an interview session with selected journalists on Tuesday in Abuja.
The interview was conducted as part of NutriVision 2024, a pan-African dialogue to discuss transformative solutions to combat malnutrition and shape Africa's future.
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that most commonly affects the lungs and is caused by a type of bacteria.
It spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze or spit.
According to the World Health Organization, 10.6 million people will become ill with tuberculosis and 1.3 million will die in 2022, mainly in low- and middle-income countries.
Mr Gates said TB was difficult to diagnose and underfunded, noting that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remained a public health crisis and a threat to health security.
Article page with promotion of financial support
“We have a lot of new medicines. Unfortunately, the current medicines have to be taken for nine months.
“And there are some types of TB that are resistant to drugs, either a single drug or multiple drugs.
“And so, we are making great strides in medicines and bringing new medicines, and as you say, we are also working on a vaccine.
“The vaccine trial will last about four years. We expect the vaccine to show a reduction of about 70 percent. We don’t think it’s likely to show a 90 percent reduction,” he said.
The co-chair said the vaccine trial, which is expected to cost $500 million, was conducted in collaboration with GSK and the Wellcome Trust.
NAN reports that the Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI) on March 19 announced a Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the M72/AS01E tuberculosis vaccine.
He noted that if the vaccine is shown to be well tolerated and effective, it could potentially become the first new TB vaccine in more than a century to help prevent pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults.
Ending the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030 is among the health objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
NAN reports that Mr. Gates is visiting Nigeria, as part of the foundation's ongoing commitment to African development.
During his brief visit, Mr. Gates met with national and local leaders, partners, beneficiaries and innovators.
Mr. Gates, along with other foundation leaders, also met with experts in primary health care, agriculture and nutrition who are driving progress across the continent, despite economic challenges.
Participated in the NutriVision Dialogue with Jon Batiste, musician, educator and humanitarian.
(YAYA)
All in one/Living