On October 8, 2009, the TB Alliance and Research!America co-sponsored a Capitol Hill Briefing in the US Senate chambers entitled, “Eliminating TB through Global Health Research” to highlight the importance and impact of US government investment in TB research. Hosted by the Office of Senator Richard Durbin (Illinois), panelists included Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ann Ginsberg, Dr. Lee Reichman, Executive Director, Global Tuberculosis Center, New Jersey Medical School, and Johnson & Johnson Vice-President of Global Health, Dr. Scott Ratzan.
Speaking on behalf of the Senator, Legislative Assistant, Ms. Nida Shakir, opened by calling attention to the need for new drugs and vaccines for TB for use in resource-limited settings. In 2008, Senator Durbin, a longtime champion for global health, co-sponsored legislation that authorizes new funding for R&D for new TB drugs and vaccines.
In her remarks, Dr. Ginsberg demonstrated how US investments in TB drug development via the National Institutes for Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the US Agency for International Development have contributed to the advancement of several drugs in the pipeline. She called on Congress to increase appropriations to the level authorized by the 2008 Lantos-Hyde Reauthorization Act&mdmdash;an increase of $4b over 5 years for USAID-funded TB programs, including the expansion of funding for TB drug development.
Dr. Reichman shared his personal account as a provider on the front lines of TB treatment, pointing out the difficulties he has faced working in a field of medicine with waning political interest and limited funding. He described the experience of a former patient, Kathy Mitchell, a high school guidance counselor in Sussex County, New Jersey, who suffered from an incorrect initial diagnosis followed by 6 months of TB treatment.
Focusing on novel approaches to stimulate innovation in global health, Dr. Ratzan described the partnership between the TB Alliance and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Tibotec, as an example of how collaboration between the public and private sectors can lead to accelerated R&D for public health benefit. Dr. Ratzan explained that investment in R&D for global health is a key component of the nation’s “global health diplomacy.”
Launched at the briefing, Research!America’s new factsheet on TB research highlights the economic and public health benefits of US investment in global health research for Americans. In his closing remarks, moderator Dr. Mike Coburn, of Research!America, emphasized that in an increasingly interconnected world, global health IS America’s health.