Although a quarter of the world population is infected with the pathogen that causes tuberculosis, only about ten percent develop the disease during their lifetime. An international team of scientists, including some from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin showed that the amounts of certain chemical compounds which circulate in the blood, change prior to the onset of the disease even months before a clinical diagnosis can be made. In the future, this may allow to predict tuberculosis based on a blood screening – a highly valuable progress in the fight against this life threatening disease.

The only tuberculosis vaccine currently approved, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, protects children from the most severe forms of the disease in most cases but does not provide protection against the most common form, pulmonary tuberculosis in adults and children. BCG has therefore been unable to contain tuberculosis worldwide. Scientists led by Stefan Kaufmann of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin are therefore working feverishly on a more effective replacement for BCG. The vaccine candidate they have developed, dubbed VPM1002, will now be tested in a large-scale phase II trial with newborns. VPM1002 is a genetically modified variant of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine. Moreover, another trial will test whether VPM1002 is effective in the treatment of cancer of the bladder.

For 80 years there was essentially a lull in tuberculosis research. Indeed, the last scientific breakthrough in 1921, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, still forms the central pillar of tuberculosis prevention. In most cases, immunisation with BCG protects children from the worst forms of the disease, but not against the most common form, pulmonary tuberculosis in adults and children. The vaccine has therefore not helped to reduce the number of tuberculosis cases. Only since the start of the new millennium has research once again been able to report significant advances in the development of new vaccines and drugs.

Hopes are high for a new and improved tuberculosis vaccine: Serum Institute of India is planning on taking a promising vaccine - originally developed in Germany - and introducing it into the clinical setting. Studies have shown that the new vaccine is more effective and better tolerated than currently available options. By signing a contract with the Hannover-based Vakzine Projekt Management GmbH, Serum, one of the World’s leading vaccine manufacturers, has effectively secured the license to the various patents and technologies related to the new vaccine.