The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI) has announced the commencement of the third phase clinical trial evaluating the M72/AS01E tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate.
According to an official statement Tuesday from the foundation, the initial doses of the vaccine are administered in South Africa, where TB takes a heavy toll and should it prove to be “well-tolerated and effective,” the vaccine could potentially become the first vaccine to help prevent pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults.
It explained that the efforts could mark the first new TB vaccine in over a century to reduce the incidence of pulmonary TB, which is the most common and contagious form of the disease.
