Sanofi in TB partnership with Cornell

Sanofi is to enter a research collaboration with Weill Cornell Medical College to identify new anti-infective treatments for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB).

Research will be focused on drugs that shorten the current course of TB treatment and have the potential to provide effective treatment against strains of TB that are resistant or susceptible to current therapies.

Sanofi will provide 80,000 chemical compounds to Dr Carl Nathan's laboratory at Weill Cornell, the medical college of New York's Cornell University.

The compounds will be screened to assess their ability to inhibit growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes most cases of TB.

Funding for the screening is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"This research collaboration with Weill Cornell will enable us to explore the potential of our existing compound library and pool the extensive knowledge of Dr Nathan and his colleagues," said Elias Zerhouni, president, global R&D at Sanofi. "Should a compound be identified through this collaboration, with Sanofi's drug development expertise, we hope to benefit TB patients worldwide in continuation of our long standing commitment to global health."