There is only one licensed vaccine for tuberculosis: the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine.
It was invented over 100 years ago, and while it has saved millions of lives since, it has limitations. The BCG vaccine provides protection against the most severe forms of tuberculosis in children but offers variable and limited protection for adolescents and adults.
Diagnosis and treatment rates are also low. Of the 10.6 million people estimated to have developed active tuberculosis in 2021, only around three out of five cases were appropriately diagnosed and notified [PDF].
And although tuberculosis can be cured with a combination of antibiotics, until recently, the standard course of drugs took six to nine months to complete, and treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis took up to two years with much lower chances of cure.
New treatment options have become available in the last ten years to help tackle the growing tide of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, reduce treatment lengths and remove toxic drugs from regimens. However, access to these drugs in many of the most deeply affected countries is limited.
So, despite being declared a global public health emergency 30 years ago, the world still faces high disease prevalence, increasing drug resistance and inadequate resources to limit further spread.
The pace of tuberculosis innovation has not matched this need – with insufficient political interest and financial investment contributing to the slow progress of research and development.