UNITAID approves over US $61 million to GLI, FIND and GDF for MDR-TB diagnostics

UNITAID has approved fresh funding for two ongoing projects aimed at curbing MDR-TB: the MDR-TB Scale-up Initiative and EXPAND-TB.

The MDR-TB Scale-up Initiative seeks to increase the number of patients receiving second-line drugs and improve market dynamics for these drugs. A new grant of US$ 16 384 000 will allow the Global Drug Facility (GDF) and Green Light Committee -- both of which are Stop TB Partnership initiatives hosted by WHO -- to scale up treatment of MDR-TB in India from 2010 through 2012.

The first UNITAID grant of US$ 37.6 million for the initiative was approved last July. Its objective has been to boost the supply of drugs needed to treat MDR-TB in 17 countries, with the additional goal of achieving price reductions of up to 25% for second-line anti-TB drugs by 2010. All the countries receiving this assistance have Green Light Committee-approved MDR-TB treatment programmes in place. Some are using grants from the Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to purchase the drugs.

India, which will benefit from the expansion of the initiative, has more MDR-TB cases than any country in the world -- an estimated minimum of 130 000 cases in 2007 alone. With the addition of India, the number of patients accessing second-line drugs through the initiative is expected to increase three-fold. This surge in demand is likely to have a favourable impact on market forces.

EXPAND-TB supplies MDR-TB diagnostics to high-burden countries. With a new grant of US$ 61 482 085, the project, led by the Global Laboratory Initiative (a Stop TB Partnership Working Group) in close collaboration with FIND and GDF, will be expanded to increase the countries covered from 16 to 27. The overall objective is to jump-start strengthening of laboratories in these countries, through collaboration between a variety of partners.

The project, started up in June with an initial grant of US$ 26.1 million from UNITAID, introduced an important breakthrough -- a molecular method to diagnose MDR-TB, which until then was used exclusively in research settings. These rapid, molecular tests, known as line probe assays, produce an answer in less than two days, not the standard two to three months needed with other methods.

The Global Laboratory Initiative has been helping countries prepare for installation and use of the new rapid diagnostic tests and other diagnostic innovations, such as liquid culture, ensuring necessary technical standards for accuracy and biosafety. FIND is responsible for technology transfer, and GDF is providing the diagnostics.