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Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation Praises G8 for Leadership on TB, Vaccines, and Public-Private Partnerships

Posted on: Friday, 8 July 2005, 15:01 CDT

GLENEAGLES, Scotland, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- As the world saw this week, the G8 has an enormous capacity to advance issues that affect people everywhere. We reach out to the people of London, and we express our hope that yesterday's tragic terrorist attacks will not interrupt the essential work the G8 leaders have undertaken to improve global health and lay the foundation for a more peaceful and prosperous world for all.

The G8 made important progress this week by acknowledging the importance of vaccines and public-private partnerships to fight global disease. We are especially encouraged that the G8 leaders have specifically recognized the threat that tuberculosis poses to developing and industrialized countries alike, and that a vaccine is needed to help quell the epidemic. The size of the TB epidemic is astonishing and shows no signs of abating.

Public-private partnerships combine the best aspects of industry, NGOs, and government to spearhead the R&D effort for new tools to fight neglected diseases. Increased public investment in PPPs is essential to create life- saving innovations that will break the cycles of disease and poverty and help improve living standards across the globe.

Vaccines have long been recognized as the most efficient and cost effective tool to control infectious disease. The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation is a leader of global efforts to develop a TB vaccine, and projects that with sufficient investment -- about $1 billion over 10 years - an effective vaccine is achievable by 2015. But that goal will only be reached if there is support of PPPs and sufficient funding to develop the most promising vaccine candidates.

We are close to finding a vaccine for TB -- a disease that has plagued mankind since the time of the Pharaohs. The science is promising. The G8's leadership should generate the political will and the resources to fully fund the development of a product that will save the lives of millions.

Facts about TB: -- 2 billion people - one third of the world's population - carry the tuberculosis bacterium. -- 2 million people die of TB each year. -- Over the next 20 years, 36 million people will die of TB unless the disease is controlled. -- TB is a leading cause of death among people who are HIV-positive. -- A new, effective vaccine combined with drug treatment could bring the TB pandemic under control. About Jerald C. Sadoff:

Dr. Jerald Sadoff became President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation in June, 2003. Dr. Sadoff has spent more than three decades developing vaccines for dozens of diseases from chicken pox to malaria. He came to Aeras from Merck, where he was the Executive Director of Clinical Development of Vaccines. While at Merck, Dr. Sadoff led the efforts that developed and licensed a preventive vaccine against hepatitis A, a liquid form of the Hemophilus type B vaccine, and a 4-degree stable form of the chicken pox vaccine.

Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation

CONTACT: In Gleneagles, Jonathan Baum, +44-7919-390-634,jbaum@ghstrat.com; or in Washington, Natalie Waugh, +1-301-547-2917,media@aeras.org

Source: PRNewswire

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