Even as tuberculosis (TB) continues to haunt the world, a new study has revealed that funding for research and development of new drugs to fight the disease is floundering. Private sector funding has declined by more than a third since 2011 as pharma companies are closing their TB research programmes. Pfizer shut down its TB drug discovery programme in 2012, AstraZeneca in 2013 and Novartis in 2014. Meanwhile, multi-drug resistant TB is rapidly spreading with 450,000-odd new cases reported in 2012 by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The report was prepared by Treatment Action Group (TAG), a New York based health policy think tank. It pointed out that while $9.8 billion was needed to fight TB during 2011-2015 according to a Global Plan prepared by experts in 2011, the world spent only $1.99 billion by the end of 2013. India spent around $7.6 million in 2013 on TB research according…
