Eisai Europe has become a signatory to the Tuberculosis Drug Accelerator (TBDA) partnership, an initiative that aims to speed up the discovery of essential new treatments for tuberculosis (TB).

Launched in June 2012 through a collaborative agreement between several pharmaceutical companies, research institutions and with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the TBDA partnership targets the discovery of new TB drugs by working together on early-stage research.

The long-term goal of the partnership is to create a new TB drug combination that has the potential to cure patients in one month only, compared to the six months of treatment required by existing treatments.

As a TBDA member, Eisai will provide targeted sections of its compound libraries for screening against TB and share identified and confirmed hits with other TBDA partners. Eisai will also work cooperatively with other partners to facilitate the development of new therapies for TB.

Through the discovery of new TB drug combinations with the potential to cure patients in one month, rather than six, the TBDA will contribute to minimising the length of treatment and decreasing treatment rates.

The involvement in the TBDA underscores Eisai's human health care (hhc) mission; the company's commitment to innovative solutions in disease prevention, cure and care for the health and wellbeing of people worldwide.