The M72 could potentially become the first new vaccine to help prevent pulmonary TB, a form of active TB, in more than 100 years if it is proven effective.

To support the M72 Phase III clinical trial, which will cost an estimated US$550 million, Wellcome is providing up to $150 million while the Gates Foundation will fund the remainder, about $400 million.

As TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, the development of an affordable and accessible vaccine for adolescents and adults is considered an innovative approach desperately needed to drive up progress in preventing escalating infections and in protecting those most affected.

“People can be infected [with a bacterium that causes TB] but they do not have the signs of infection and do not have TB disease. By vaccinating them, we can prevent their infection from progressing to active TB disease. It will ultimately drive down the disease transmission,” said Wellcome infectious diseases director Alexander Pym in a virtual press briefing about TB on Wednesday.

He asserted the funding of the M72 vaccine as a potential new tool in TB prevention, and control could accelerate efforts to eliminate TB as a public health threat.

In 2021, about 10.6 million people suffered from TB with 1.6 million deaths, about 4,300 people per day, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. Almost a quarter of today’s global population is believed to have latent TB, in which TB bacteria stay in the body without making them sick.

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