The TB Alliance is pleased to welcome Johnson & Johnson to the select group of companies and organizations working diligently on new drugs to fight tuberculosis.
Johnson & Johnson’s promising novel compound, the diarylquinoline R207910, is an important addition to the TB drug pipeline. It has exhibited significant early potential for treating TB. Novel classes of drugs, such as the diarylquinolines, nitroimidazoles and others, give us hope that a disease as widespread and devastating as TB can be overcome.
"Johnson & Johnson has made a significant research advance for the global pipeline of potential new TB therapies,” said Mel Spigelman, M.D., Director of Research and Development at the TB Alliance. “We will need every one of these promising drug candidates if we are to conquer this complex global killer. A comprehensive solution to the TB pandemic will involve new combinations of totally novel drugs that are affordable and accessible for all those infected with TB, especially the two-thirds of the world's TB patients who do not have access to the best therapy today.”
As reported in the magazine Science today, the diarylquinoline R207910 has shown activity against tuberculosis in vitro and in a mouse model of TB infection. The compound has a novel mechanism of action and is also effective against MDR strains in in vitro studies. Phase I trials in healthy human volunteers have been completed with a reportedly good safety profile.
Johnson & Johnson joins several other large pharmaceutical companies, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca in devoting resources and expertise to the battle against tuberculosis.
The overall TB drug pipeline now consists of multiple compounds or discovery projects in development. There are seven compounds which are slated to be tested in clinical trials in 2005. Just four years ago, there were only 2 compounds in development in the TB drug pipeline.