The development of new treatments for tuberculosis is a priority of the World Health Organization. Nearly 10 million people contracted tuberculosis in 2018, of whom 2 million died. The threat is aggravated by the development of resistant forms of the agent of this disease (the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium or Koch's bacillus).

It is in this context that the European Union, in partnership with the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, is funding ERA4TB (European Regimen Accelerator for Tuberculosis), a European consortium of academic and industrial partners to accelerate the development of new therapeutic approaches to tuberculosis. Some 30 partners from 13 countries, including the IDMIT department (CEA, Inserm and Paris-Saclay University) of the François Jacob Institute of Biology and the Pasteur Institute for France, will participate in this €200 million project. The aim of this broad collaboration is to facilitate the development of new drug candidates in the upstream phases up to their clinical evaluation.

The current treatment of tuberculosis is based on a combination of four drugs, all developed more than 60 years ago. It lasts at least six months and, in case of resistance, up to two years. New, faster and safer therapies are needed to reduce the duration of treatment and to overcome the threat of drug-resistant strains of the tuberculosis bacillus. Collaboration between academic partners and pharmaceutical companies, made possible by ERA4TB, should optimize and significantly reduce the time needed to develop new therapies.

IDMIT's expertise in preclinical research in this field is rare and will be decisive in estimating the efficacy of new molecules and their combinations prior to human trials. IDMIT's advanced tools for analyzing the body's response to pathogens and treatments, combining both cell-based technologies and whole body imaging visualization, represent a significant asset to the consortium. The in-depth knowledge of the biological mechanisms involved in vivo to which IDMIT scientists will contribute is essential for improving treatment strategies and identifying new targets for future drugs.