Newsletter

Issue 10:

October 2025

Successes from ERA4TB 9th Consortium Meeting

The ERA4TB Annual Consortium Meeting, held on 20–21 May 2025, was a great success. For the first time, the keynote sessions were opened to the public, attracting a wide audience of researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders from across the globe.

Across the two days, participants heard from leading voices in the field. Professor Stewart Cole set the tone with his powerful talk on the looming threat of antimicrobial resistance, calling it “a medical apocalypse we must act on now.” Marco Cavaleri also shared the EMA’s perspective on supporting innovation in TB medicines, with attendees praising his “clear vision of the regulatory pathway ahead.”

Day two shifted focus to vaccines, with Dr Ann Ginsberg describing the unprecedented TB vaccine pipeline. One participant remarked, “Her overview of M72/AS01E and the pipeline gave real hope for breakthroughs in the coming years.” The meeting closed with Professor Carlos Martín, who presented the progress of MTBVAC, described by attendees as “an inspiring glimpse into the future of TB prevention.”

Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the meeting as “engaging, insightful, and energising for the whole community.” Many noted that opening the keynotes to the public helped “broaden the conversation and bring in new perspectives.”

We would like to thank all speakers and attendees for making this year’s meeting such a success, and we look forward to continuing the great dialogue in the year ahead.

New ERA4TB publications

• WP2 published a new describing the protocol ‘To quantify bacterial burden in time-kill assays using colony-forming units and most probable number readouts for Mycobacterium tuberculosis’ in March 2025
• WP5 published a new article ‘Extrapolation of lung pharmacokinetics of bedaquiline across species using physiologically based pharmacokinetic modelling’ in July 2025

Spotlight interview with Peter Velickovic (WP5)

Peter Velickovic is a Research Fellow at Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), and a member of Work Package 5. We caught up with Peter and asked him some questions about the project and his perspective.

Tell us about your role within ERA4TB
I’ve really enjoyed my time at ERA4TB so far. I have especially enjoyed contributing to the optimisation of preclinical study designs and then seeing those optimisations prove effective in practice. It has been rewarding to play a part in making studies more efficient and impactful. I’ve also found it fascinating to explore the mechanisms of novel drugs in the TB pipeline. More specifically, in BT12/13 I supported the analysis of preclinical species in collaboration with IDMIT and UKHSA, which gave me the opportunity to see first-hand how collaborative efforts strengthen our research.

ERA4TB is in nearing the end of its project life. What are some of your hopes and dreams for the future?
In the future I hope to see the potential drugs researched in ERA4TB make their way to the clinic and play a vital role in combating MDR TB. Most importantly, I would love to see similar collaborative consortia form around other diseases as it expedites research and improves clinical outcomes. This could be especially relevant for neglected tropical diseases.

Webinar: “Innovating Access: Tackling Anti-Microbial Resistance Through Policy and Parnterships”

ERA4TB, in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) organised a free webinar on ‘Innovating access: Tackling Anti-Microbial Resistance Through Policy and Partnerships’ via Zoom. The webinar featured guest speakers Sophie Cooper (Senior Scientific Adviser – NICE), Michael Anderson (WHO Regional Adviser) and Manuel Alexander Haasis (WHO Regional Officer). The webinar was well attended by colleagues from NICE and internationally. Attendees were informed of the UK’s antimicrobial subscription model and of the novel medicines platform being pioneered by the World Health Organization (WHO). To view the recording, please select the link below.

Webinar: “Modelling the Future: Early-Phase Development and HTA Insights from TBAJ-587”

Join ERA4TB partners from the National Research Council (CNR, Italy) and NICE (UK) for an engaging session exploring how model-informed approaches can bridge preclinical research and health technology assessment (HTA). The webinar will highlight predictive PBPK and EBA modelling, showcasing how in-silico evidence supports early regulatory and HTA evaluations.

Date: 26th November, 2026, 11am UK time

ERA4TB represented at MycoVLO 2025

ERA4TB consortium members from University of Zaragoza, Carlos III University Madrid and Institute Pasteur de Lille attended the annual MycoVLO gathering in Valencia, Spain. Fernando Sanz Garcia from University of Zaragoza, presented a poster on “An assay toolkit for anti-tuberculosis drugs in the hollow-fiber system”.

ERA4TB Portfolio status

Overview of ERA4TB Asset Progression Plans (APPs). At present, 12 different molecules are being progressed, with a further 3 planned for incorporation into the ERA4TB pipeline in 2025. In-vivo, in-vitro, preclinical development activities and First-in-Human studies are being undertaken in parallel, as shown below.

Upcoming activities and events

• World Conference on Lung Health in Copenhagen, Denmark. 18th – 21st November 2025
• Modelling the Future: Early-Phase Development and HTA insights from TBAJ-587 in November
• International Conference on TB December 2025