Summary: 2023 Working Group on New TB Vaccines Annual Meeting
By: WGNV
The Stop TB Partnership Working Group on New TB Vaccines (WGNV) held its first annual meeting on 14 November 2023. The meeting was part of a full-day New TB Tools Summit – a collaboration between WGNV, the Stop TB Partnership’s Working Group on New Drugs and New Diagnostics Working Group, TB Alliance, FIND, and IAVI – held just in advance of the 53rd Union World Conference on Lung Health. We were delighted to have so many participants attend the meeting and express interest in our work and the research and development of new TB vaccines.
The meeting had three main parts: an introduction to the WGNV, an overview of the state of the field, and a panel discussion on key topics in TB vaccine R&D.
Introduction to WGNV
WGNV Chair David Lewinsohn opened the session, welcoming participants and providing an overview of the mission and structure of the WGNV. He emphasized the diversity of the WGNV membership, including communities, NGOs, researchers, product developers, and funders with a broad range of interests. He also shared the WGNV resources, including its website, social media presence on X and LinkedIn, email updates, online workshops and discussions, and the online TB research curriculum developed in collaboration with the other New Tools Working Groups in collaboration with the Affected Communities and NGO Delegations of the Stop TB Partnership.
Following this introduction, members of the WGNV Core Group reviewed the purpose and contributions of the WGNV in its five priority areas:
- Advocacy (presented by Shaun Palmer)
- Fostering discussion (presented by David Lewinsohn)
- Supporting early career researchers (presented by Simon Mendelsohn for Puck Pelzer)
- Sharing knowledge (presented by David Lewinsohn)
- Addressing issues in product development (presented by Ann Ginsberg)
Participants were encouraged to get involved by joining WGNV, participating in WGNV workshops and online discussions, sharing information and resources that WGNV can post on its website, and suggesting topics or activities that WGNV can facilitate to benefit the TB vaccine R&D community.
TB Vaccine R&D: State of the Field
Ann Ginsberg (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) presented an overview of the state of the field for TB vaccine R&D. She discussed the urgent need for new TB vaccines, particularly those that target adolescents and young adults because they are the primary source of TB infection transmission. She reviewed the current pipeline of TB vaccines in clinical development, noting concern that the pipeline is inverted, with more vaccines in late-stage than early-stage active clinical trials and the need for a more robust upstream pipeline. On the positive side, she noted the unprecedented amount of efficacy data in humans that may become available in the coming years, giving us important insights to inform future vaccine development. Dr. Ginsberg presented major gaps and challenges in TB vaccine R&D, and what is being done to build a more robust “next generation” pipeline. She concluded by reviewing the need for end-to-end development of new TB vaccines, from discovery to introduction and sustainable supply, and emphasized the importance of what is being done and what needs to be done post-registration to ensure that new TB vaccines reach those who most need them.
Panel Discussion
The final session of the meeting was a panel discussion on key issues in TB vaccine R&D, moderated by Richard White (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and Gopa Kumar (Touched by TB). Michele Tameris (South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, University of Cape Town) gave her perspective on what needs to be done to prepare and ensure there is sufficient capacity to conduct multiple late-stage clinical trials, and Richard White reviewed a recent proposal on how to potentially shorten Phase 3 TB vaccine trials. Birgitte Giersing (WHO) reviewed several WHO initiatives underway to help countries and the world prepare for implementation of new TB vaccines once licensed, Richard White provided an overview of a recent WGNV workshop on country data needed to implement new TB vaccines, and Gopa Kumar discussed how we can inform and prepare communities for uptake of new TB vaccines. Elly van Riet (TBVI) discussed exciting developments in the discovery and preclinical research space. The panel concluded with Shaun Palmer (IAVI Europe) discussing the advocacy needed to mobilize sufficient resources.
to support the TB vaccine pipeline and hold countries accountable to the commitments made at the UN High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis in September 2023.
Closing
David Lewinsohn closed the session by thank participants and announcing that the 7th Global Forum on TB Vaccines will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 8 – 10 October 2024. Maiko Tonini from the Ministry of Health of Brazil was invited to give some remarks and introduce a video from Dr. Ethel Maciel, Secretary of Health Surveillance and Environment, Ministry of Health, Brazil, inviting participants to join the TB vaccine R&D community for this important and exciting event.
