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Where are the drugs and diagnostics to tackle this global health crisis?
Virtually no research into TB drugs has been carried out since the 1960s. Once the disease was effectively eradicated in wealthy countries, pharmaceutical companies lost interest in developing new products. With no market incentive in developing drugs for people in poorer countries unable to afford their high prices, research activity slowed to a standstill.
Mapping the gaps in research and development
In order to focus attention on the desperate lack of medical tools to tackle TB, MSF produced an analysis of research currently underway into drugs and diagnostics for TB, highlighting the gaps where work needs to be done.
After 40 years of inactivity, new compounds are now under investigation. But there are still far too few candidates that are likely to make it through to the final stage. The advances made in basic scientific knowledge of the bacterium that causes TB are only very slowly being translated into drugs necessary to revolutionise TB treatment and curb the epidemic. A parallel report examining current diagnostics research revealed even fewer promising developments suited to the settings where we work.
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MSF's analysis of TB drug development pipeline 
