Developing vaccines to prevent sustained infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Conference proceedings

On November 7, 2014, Aeras and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases convened a conference entitled “Vaccine Prevention of Sustained Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.” The purpose of this meeting was to explore the biologic plausibility, potential public health and economic impact, and regulatory feasibility in attempting to develop a vaccine to prevent sustained infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Currently there are two main goals for tuberculosis (TB) vaccine development, to develop a vaccine that could serve as a booster to Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination and prevent active TB in adolescents and adults, and to develop an improved vaccine to replace BCG in infants. Although prevention of sustained Mtb infection is being used as a proof of biological activity for vaccines in mid-Phase 2 development, there currently are no plans for pursuing a prevention of Mtb infection licensure indication for TB vaccines. Ultimately, pursuing a prevention of sustained Mtb infection indication for TB vaccines, in parallel with ongoing efforts to develop vaccines to prevent active TB disease, was deemed a potentially important effort, but would require further resources, particularly to improve diagnostic assays, to increase the regulatory feasibility of this endeavor.