In line with our research commitment to finding a new treatment for tuberculosis - one of the leading causes of death from infectious disease worldwide - we work closely with external academic leaders in the field, research institutions and universities. One such collaboration - the New Medicines for Tuberculosis (NM4TB) programme - recently convened in Budapest to discuss progress of its discovery research. NM4TB is funded by a record sum of nearly 11 million Euros from the EU Sixth Framework Programme. AstraZeneca is the only major pharmaceutical company involved in the project, which consists of around fifteen groups of Europe's most prominent scientists and researchers in the field.

Read more about the NM4TB programme: (see below)

Read more about AstraZeneca's other commitments to helping in the fight against TB

November 23, 2006, London. In the highest funding exercise by the European Union so far to help combat TB, a consortium of leading scientists convened in Budapest earlier this week to discuss interim progress in the race to discover new treatments for the often deadly disease.

The EU Sixth Framework Programme donated a record sum of nearly 11 million Euros earlier this year, in what has been described as its flagship project, to help discover the next drugs to treat TB. This sum has been awarded over the next five years, but global health experts believe that although the funding is significant, public and private sectors need to inject much more cash into what has been described as an under-resourced area.

The funding has been designated for the New Medicines for Tuberculosis (NM4TB) programme, established in January 2006, and directed by Institut Pasteur, a world leader in TB research. Prof Barry Furr, of AstraZeneca, heads up the programme's Scientific Advisory Committee, demonstrating the company's solid commitment to developing new drugs to fight the TB epidemic across the globe. AstraZeneca is the only major pharmaceutical company involved in the project.

Around fifteen groups of Europe's most prominent scientists and researchers are also actively involved in the NM4TB programme, in addition to biopharmaceutical companies NeED of Italy and Vichem of Hungary.

Tuberculosis, first recorded in ancient Egypt, shows no signs of disappearing, and has become a scourge of modern day society in some developing countries. Today, the tuberculosis organism (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) affects at least two billion people, one in three of the world's population.

According to WHO, in 2004 there were almost nine million new cases, and nearly two million deaths caused by the disease. Some 90% of those carrying latent TB will never go on to develop active disease but 5-10% will at some point. In people co-infected with HIV, this risk rises to 5-10% annually.

WHO launched a new TB action plan in January this year, with the goal of treating 50 million people and preventing 14 million deaths worldwide over the next ten years.

''New treatments are badly needed, as today's strains have become resistant to existing treatments, first developed some forty years ago,'' says Professor Stewart Cole, of the Institut Pasteur and Chair of the NM4TB Steering Committee. ''Higher potency treatments are needed to shorten the treatment time; new treatments that may be used for multidrug resistant (MDR) and now, extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains which are rampant in Africa and parts of Eastern Europe must also be identified.

''Currently, treatment regimens last at least six months, and it is difficult for some patients to comply, especially if their lifestyle is not conducive to taking an assortment of pills. In some developing or insufficiently-resourced countries, in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, there may not be sufficient drugs for patients to complete the course. Second-line treatments may be problematic and can be accompanied by severe side-effects.''

Prof Cole welcomed AstraZeneca's involvement in the programme, emphasizing that in addition to the vast scientific knowledge and input from NM4TB members, a pharmaceutical company's participation was vital for both drug development and subsequent delivery and supply.

Commenting on the project, Prof Furr, President of the NM4TB Scientific Advisory Committee and former Chief Scientist at AstraZeneca said: ''We recognize that this is one of the most challenging targets that the EU Framework has ever undertaken, because it requires not only creativity but exceptionally close integration of multidisciplinary activities. Governments should be supportive of such major scientific discovery projects to combat infectious disease.''

According to a recent report, published by the campaigning Treatment Action Group, the leading funders among national governments in 2005 were the US, the UK, France and India. The private sector, says the report, accounted for 11% of total investments in 2005.

TB is not a new area for AstraZeneca. In 2001, the company opened a multimillion dollar R&D site in Bangalore, India, to focus on finding new TB treatments. The Bangalore scientists work in collaboration with the company's infection research facility in Boston, US, and with other academic leaders.

Prof Cole, who originally pioneered the work on the sequencing of the TB genome, estimated that it could take around seven years for scientists to develop a new treatment.

''If the science goes well, it could take only two years to discover a new drug, but taking into consideration the clinical trials necessary to prove its value and safety in patients, it could take at least another five years to complete. This is an excellent era for drug discovery, especially with such a powerful team. At the moment, NM4TB progress is on schedule.''

Notes to editors:

More information on the NM4TB programme is available on the website: http://www.nm4tb.org/ NM4TB was launched in January 2006. It aims to develop new drugs for the treatment of TB with the following desired properties:

• High potency

• Activity against persistent bacilli

• Inhibition of new target classes

• Activity of multidrug (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB

• Specificity for M. tuberculosis

Although TB usually affects the lungs, it can spread to almost any part of the body. No new drugs have been approved for the treatment of TB for 40 years. A serious consequence of the rising HIV/AIDS epidemic is increasing levels of TB in the same populations. The increasing emergence of bacteria resistant to current therapies, the breakdown of healthcare services treating the disease both mean that the need for new, effective treatments is gaining increased importance.

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