Dr Mel Spigelman, President and CEO of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development has delivered a lecture to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Eskitis Institute.
TB Alliance is a not-for-profit organisation with the mission of discovering and developing more effective and affordable tuberculosis treatments.
Director of the Eskitis Institute, Professor Ron Quinn, said he was delighted to welcome Dr Spigelman to the Eskitis Institute, where the search for natural compounds to combat TB is also a key priority.
“We are very proud to have Dr Spigelman give this lecture. The TB Alliance is a partner, together with the Gates Foundation, in a major Australian Research Council project that is looking to nature to find new drugs that can treat tuberculosis.”
In his presentation, The Global Tuberculosis Pandemic, Dr Spigelman reviewed the magnitude of the global tuberculosis pandemic, its relationship with poverty and its impact on the most vulnerable populations.
He also spoke about the increasing problem of TB drug resistance, particularly over the past decade, and described advances in TB drug development.
“New approaches to innovation, not only in pure research and development, but also in methodological approaches to drug development, are reshaping the future treatment of TB. We are on the verge of delivering dramatically improved treatments,” said Dr Spigelman.
“We also need to take the next steps to ensure new TB regimens can reach the poorest of the poor, where TB has its biggest and most deleterious impact.”
