Archivel Farma’s TB vaccine may cut treatment time from nine months to one
Archivel Farma, S.L. has announced that its treatment for tuberculosis (TB) will shortly start phase II clinical trials. The treatment uses the company’s unique combination of its novel therapeutic vaccine called RUTI® in conjunction with an antibiotic. This cuts treatment time from nine months to one month, which reduces side effects and healthcare costs, by preventing re-infection during the eradication process. The company expects commercial availability in 2015.
It has now been discovered that TB does not lie “dormant” but is actually waging a constant war with the host, constantly re-infecting the lungs. Provided that the host is healthy, it has the upper hand and usually keeps the TB in check – LTBI. TB is particularly tricky to eliminate as it can be either replicating, when it can be killed by the antibiotics, or non-replicating when antibiotics are useless. The long, nine month course of antibiotics is needed to ensure that all traces of the non-replicating form are eliminated from the lungs.
Archivel’s novel, two pronged approach combines a one month course of antibiotic to eliminate the bacteria in the replicating stage and two injections of the company’s RUTI vaccine that stimulates the body’s own immune system to fight the TB bacteria. This combination approach reduces the treatment time from nine months to one, is easier to manage, less expensive, more effective and more likely to be done completely. The company estimates that cost comparison between the current and new treatment, when allowing for all the logistical costs means that the new treatment costs around half that of the old treatment.
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