Tuberculosis Drug Discovery
Current Drugs for TB
Though there are drugs available to treat TB infection, the current treatment is a lengthy process, involving a 4-drug regimen to be taken daily for 2 months followed by a 2-drug regimen for another 4 to 6 months. The cost of such treatment makes it extremely difficult to reach all who are infected, leaving the poorest of nations to struggle with high infection rates. In such regions, dosing regimens are often inadequately administered and combined with the length and complexity of treatment this has led to a rise in the number of cases of drug-resistant TB.
No truly novel anti-tubercular drug has been developed for use in over 40 years. With the emergence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extremely drug resistant TB (XDR-TB), it has become clear that new drugs are of the utmost importance to preventing the spread of these lethal strains.
IDRI’s Drug Discovery Program
IDRI's long-term goal is to aid in the discovery and development of new drugs that can greatly shorten the amount of time it takes to treat TB. IDRI has brought together a critical mass of capabilities and expertise that will enable the discovery of new compounds to treat tuberculosis.
The major components are:
Target discovery and whole cell assays
High throughput screening
Medicinal chemistry
In addition IDRI is investigating ways to combine the therapeutic properties of our vaccines with antibiotics to develop more powerful ways to eradicate the bacteria. The simultaneous development of a vaccine and discovery of more effective anti-tubercular drugs may combine to give us the first realistic chance in the history of humankind at defeating this horrific disease.
Ed Kesicki, Director, Small-Molecule Drug Discovery
Joshua Odingo, Director of Chemistry
David Roberts, Scientist I
Allen Casey, Group Leader, High Throughput Screening/Robotics
Juliane Ollinger, Postdoctoral Scientist
Theresa O’Malley Harris, Senior Research Associate
James Ahn, Senior Research Assistant
Torey Alling, Research Assistant