NIH PARTNERSHIP YIELDS DRUG THAT COULD FIGHT XDR-TB

There is an urgent need for new drugs to combat tuberculosis (TB), as the disease spreads and the incidence of extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) continues to rise, according to the NIH. In order to develop new healthcare interventions for TB, the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has begun to form partnerships with various pharmaceutical companies.

One such public-private partnership involved Sequella, which recently received clearance from the FDA to begin Phase I clinical trials of its TB drug candidate SQ109.

SQ109 was discovered in NIAID's intramural laboratories and developed with extensive support from NIAID as well as the National Cancer Institute/NIAID Inter-Institute Program for the Development of AIDS-related Therapeutics. The successful transition of SQ109 from the laboratory to clinical testing represents a major milestone for the NIAID TB program and Sequella, according to the NIH.