TB Alliance Sublicenses Anti-tuberculosis Drug from the Medicines Patent Pool

On World Tuberculosis Day, TB Alliance and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) have announced a licensing agreement for the clinical development of sutezolid, an antibiotic drug candidate which demonstrated encouraging results in early studies.   The sublicense pertains to the development of sutezolid in combination with other TB drugs and follows the MPP's license for the treatment signed with patent holder The Johns Hopkins University in January.   "There are precious few novel drugs available for TB therapy and therefore every promising new candidate is greeted with much enthusiasm," said Dr. Mel Spigelman, President and CEO of TB Alliance. "With the additional positive results from our current clinical trials we can thoroughly vet sutezolid in a variety of potentially transformative new TB regimens." Sutezolid is in the same class of drugs as linezolid (oxazolidinones), which is used in some countries as a treatment option for drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). Tests conducted over the past decade have indicated that sutezolid may have a better therapeutic potential than linezolid.   MPP's license with The Johns Hopkins University grants the MPP the rights to sublicense sutezolid to product developers interested in further developing the treatment for both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB, and to combine sutezolid with a wide variety of other drugs.