We are pleased to announce the release of SPRINT-TB Annual Report 2015 - the first in the series of reports the programme will publish annually to inform the scientific and broader community of its activities, news and discoveries.

SPRINT-TB programme officially commenced in July 2014 and in slightly over a year of its existence has produced an array of research findings and achievements. Notable highlights in the first year of SPRINT-TB's formal existence include identification by Theme 1 of potent activity of bortezomib against a new target M. tuberculosis. In Theme 2, work has started on finding the derivatives of bortezomib that may have greater selectivity in killing bacteria with minimal toxicity.Theme 3 has established a platform for testing new drugs and combinations in humans - the whole blood bactericidal activity assay - and modified this to be able to test drugs that work against bacteria, as well as that modify the host immune response. Theme 4 has set up a collaborative effort in TB health services research with the national TB programme in Cambodia and opened the SPRINT-TB office in Phnom Penh.
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SPRINT-TB Annual Report 2015 is available for download here.

In the 2015 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends released in November 2015 by TAG (Treatment Action Group), Singapore was reported to have spent more on TB R&D in 2014 as a percentage of its GDP than any other country or economy. Appearing in this report for the first time, Singapore gave USD 8.1 million to TB research in 2014, ranking higher than the much larger countries (and economies) of France, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada. The whole reported TB funding amount (USD 8.1 million) was awarded to SPRINT-TB, a TB research programme based in National University of Singapore.

The report points out that this can make a meaningful difference in TB R&D. Given the small base of available TB funding worldwide, an organization only needs to allocate more than USD 12 million per year to rank among the top 10 funders of TB R&D. Singapore thus has a tremendous potential to take a worldwide leadership position in TB R&D with SPRINT-TB as its flagship research programme.

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TAG (Treatment Action Group) is an independent non-profit think tank of science-based treatment activists based in New York City, USA, which supports research to end tuberculosis epidemics. The Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, funded by the Stop TB Partnership, is published annually at the Union World Conference on Lung Health. The purpose of the report is to track TB research spending against the targets established by the Stop TB Partnership's Global Plan to Stop TB, 2011–2016. 

TAG 2015 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends is available here.