Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends 2005 — 2022
December 5, 2023 – Despite United Nations (UN) member states publicly reaffirming the goal to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030 at the 2023 High-Level Meeting (HLM) on TB, cumulative funding for tuberculosis research and development (R&D) over the past five years has totaled less than half of the $10 billion pledged at the previous HLM in 2018, according to a new report released by Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the Stop TB Partnership. Without an unprecedented mobilization of resources, the world will remain perilously off-track of making good on this historic commitment to finally defeat history’s deadliest infectious disease.
Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends 2005 – 2022, the 18th annual installment of our series assessing the state of TB R&D, is based on surveys of biomedical research funders conducted by TAG with support from Stop TB Partnership. While global funding for TB R&D topped $1 billion in both 2021 and 2022, this amount is insufficient to produce and roll out the tools needed to find, treat, and prevent the 10 million new cases of TB each year. Spending on TB vaccine R&D fell a whopping 80% short of targets set by Stop TB’s Global Plan to End TB in 2018, with funding for drugs and diagnostics lagging by 75% and 35% respectively.