Academia Sinica signs TB deal

The memorandum of understanding was signed by Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey and IDRI Senior Vice President Curtis D. Malloy as part of the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, a not-for- profit public-private partnership aimed at accelerating research and development of new treatments for TB, including drug-resistant strains.

The initiative's primary partners are Eli Lilly and Company and the IDRI.

In 2007, there were an estimated 9.27 million cases of tuberculosis globally, an increase from 8.3 million cases in 2000, Malloy cited a World Health Organization report saying. One-third of the world's population is likely infected with TB, Malloy predicted, adding that this suggests there is an urgent need to develop new antibiotic drugs for TB control.

TB has been one of the most serious infectious diseases in Taiwan and a continuing increasing in the number of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases has sparked concern among some in the medical sector, according to Wong.

Taiwan saw 16,742 new cases of TB in 2005. That number dropped to 15,378 in 2006 and came further down to 14,554 in 2007, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control.

He said TB infections are actually more deadly than influenza A (H1N1) infections as most A (H1N1) patients recover within one week, while drug-resistant tuberculosis often leads to more severe consequences.

Gail. H. Cassell, an IDRI member and an advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said she believes that Academia Sinica, which has a versatile drug compound library with over 2 million kinds of compounds, will be able to provide a broad selection of chemicals for the project.

Cassell added that the top research institute in Taiwan also has fast screening and genotyping techniques that are expected to increase the success of the initiative.

Praising Wong as one of the most outstanding researchers in chemistry, Cassell said she was very glad to cooperate with him.

Under the cooperation agreement, Academia Sinica is responsible for the initial research and will own the intellectual property rights to the research results.

In the later stage, the research institute will work with large-scale international pharmaceutical manufacturers to facilitate the discovery of new TB drugs and vaccines, according to Wong.

The cooperation format marked Academia Sinica's first attempt to develop new medicines via research, development and innovation, Wong added.

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