Although potentially curable, tuberculosis continues to kill someone somewhere in the world about every 20 seconds - approximately 5,000 people every day, or 1.8 million each year. The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is infected with TB while drug resistant tuberculosis, the more deadly form of the disease, is on the rise in Asia.
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit product development partnership accelerating the discovery and development of new TB drugs, engaged Racepoint to announce its alliance with the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS). The alignment will allow both bodies to discover and develop promising anti-tuberculosis agents from natural sources, including microbial metabolites and traditional Chinese medicines.
The partnership was announced to the international media at a briefing in Beijing where lead editorials where secured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Financial Times, Thomson Reuters and Dow Jones. The initiative has since developed into a wider medical educational program building awareness towards the alarming rise of drug resistant TB on the mainland, preventative measures and available treatment options.
