New Delhi: Bharat Biotech and Biofabri are conducting clinical trials in India for the MTBVAC tuberculosis vaccine. The vaccine is made from a human strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. It offers a better defence against TB than the BCG vaccine, which has been in use for over a century but provides limited protection against pulmonary TB.
Biofabri has finished a dose escalation trial in HIV-negative adults and has begun a Phase 2 study in HIV-positive adults in 2024 to assess MTBVAC’s safety in this group. Bharat Biotech will oversee the Phase 3 trial. This research is important because India has the most TB cases in the world.
Both companies are expecting a breakthrough in global vaccination efforts through the success of this vaccine, citing it as a prime example of collaboration among public and private entities at national and international levels.
MTBVAC’s creation is a result of a global partnership between public and private sectors, supported financially and otherwise by organisations like the European Union, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States.
Esteban Rodriguez, CEO of Biofabri, highlighted the importance of conducting tests in a country where 28% of global TB cases are found. He also called for more efforts and funding to fight TB effectively.
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