The blueprint for vaccine research & development: walking the path for better TB vaccines

Much progress has been made in TB vaccine research over the past ten years, and a series of new live genetically altered mycobacterial vaccines, viral-vectored vaccines and sub-unit vaccines composed of recombinant antigens are presently in clinical development phases. A series of challenges remain, however, to be addressed in order to develop new and better candidate TB vaccines, especially an expansion of our knowledge of what constitutes protective immunity in TB, the identification of the most suitable vaccination strategies, the capacity and infrastructure to conduct large-scale trials in endemic countries, the investment in vaccine manufacturing capacity, and the development of effective regulatory pathways that shorten review timelines. In this brief paper, we review how the Vaccine Blueprint places itself in the continuation and expansion of two groundbreaking initiatives taking place over the last two years, that is, an invigorated Global Plan to Stop TB 2011-2015 that gives a clear emphasis on Research and Development, and the International Roadmap for TB Research, that identifies key priorities for research on TB vaccines, spanning from the most fundamental research aspects to the more field-based epidemiological aspects.