• Tuberculosis has claimed millions of lives since ancient times. 

• Despite having effective treatment, the complexity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has hindered progress towards disease control.

• Numerous tuberculosis vaccine candidates are in the pipeline of development.

• Prediction modeling studies have found that preventing the disease among adolescents and adults is one of the quickest means to achieve global tuberculosis control.

• Among those in the Phase III clinical trial, MTBVAC is the first live, genetically- attenuated vaccine developed by Biofabri, a Spanish biopharmaceutical company.

• Bharat Biotech in partnership with Biofabri is conducting an efficacy, immunogenicity, and safety trial in India aiming for:

1. Prolonged effect in newborns compared to the BCG vaccine

2. Prevention of disease among adolescents and adults.

• The vaccine is under trial in different countries on safety and immunogenicity in HIV-infected and non-infected populations.

• The limiting step is the cost of conducting trials on late-stage efficacy and the long post-vaccination follow-up.

• Following the successful trial, vaccines would be required to obtain WHO policy recommendations for roll-out, globally.

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