Yesterday, Nov. 28th, the FDA Ant-infective Drug Advisory Committee voted to recommend Janssen‘s Bedaquiline for accelerated approval for the treatment of MDR tuberculosis. You can access materials from the meeting at http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/ucm321011.htm. The sponsor and scientists from the FDA both made presentations.

This week we highlight an interview with Dr. Andrew Vernon, the Chief, Clinical Research Branch, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He discusses the progress made in TB drug development and the growing number of TB trials and trials groups.

This week we highlight an interview with Dr. Douglas Lowrie, a Senior Research Fellow at Fudan University’s Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center in China. He discusses the extent of the problem of TB in China and innovative research on enhancing TB treatment using immunotherapeutic vaccines.

Anna K. Coussensa, Robert J. Wilkinson, Yasmeen Hanifa, Vladyslav Nikolayevskyy, Paul T. Elkington, Kamrul Islam, Peter M. Timms, Timothy R. Venton, Graham H. Bothamley, Geoffrey E. Packe, Mathina Darmalingam, Robert N. Davidson, Heather J. Milburn, Lucy V. Baker, Richard D. Barker, Charles A. Mein, Leena Bhaw-Rosun, Rosamond Nuamah, Douglas B. Young, Francis A. Drobniewski, Christopher J. Griffiths, and Adrian R. Martineau.