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Co. is moving ahead with compd a potent antituberculosis compound identified in industry. Co. has licensed the compound and has moved it further into preclinical development. Existing drugs for tuberculosis have many shortcomings. Treatment lasts six to nine months and is complicated by the rapid development of drug-resistant strains; in addition, many drugs have terrible side effects. These factors, "compounded by the problem arising from the twin epidemics of HIV and tuberculosis, have made new medicines imperative for public health," she says. To deliver on the promise of new drugs by 2010 on a modest budget of $300 million, Co. focuses on late-discovery and preclinical-stage compounds. "Our strategy includes novel compounds as well as analogs and derivatives of existing compounds that can be improved to match the required drug profile. There are also important opportunities in evaluating existing drugs that have not yet been used for tuberculosis." THE ALLIANCE HAS set three goals for a new drug: It must shorten the treatment time or significantly reduce the number of doses needed to be taken under DOTS supervision; it must treat multiple-drug-resistant infections; and it must act against latent infection.
"There is no guarantee that every promising lead compound will deliver all three. But in reviewing candidates for the portfolio, the alliance gives preference to compounds with potent bactericidal activity, to reduce the length of treatment; to those that belong to new compound families, to address the problem of drug resistance; and to compounds that demonstrate sterilizing activity, to deal with latent infection. "We are enthusiastic about new drug because it has a good chance of meeting all three objectives," she says.
To maximize the chance of registering a drug by 2010, the alliance needs to have five to seven projects in late-discovery or preclinical stage, and it needs to license two compounds for entry into Phase I clinical trials per year. Two deals are being negotiated, and several others are being evaluated. "We are on target, both in profile and timeline, in building our portfolio
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