Pulmonary TB-CHIM programme

Testing a new tuberculosis vaccine or treatment currently requires years of large-scale human trials. Researchers plan to change that by deliberately infecting healthy volunteers with a carefully controlled dose of TB bacteria directly into their lungs. This matters because TB kills over a million people each year, and the only licensed vaccine—BCG—is a century old and offers inconsistent protection. Developing better vaccines is slow and expensive partly because scientists have no reliable way to test whether a candidate works before committing to massive field trials. A controlled human infection model (CHIM) would let them see, in a small group of volunteers, whether a vaccine blocks or reduces bacterial growth in the lung. That could weed out failing candidates early and fast-track promising ones. The team has four goals: finalise a safe manufacturing plan for the TB strain, develop lab tests to track bacteria inside the body, complete preclinical safety work for US regulatory approval, and prepare a site in Malawi by first testing a simpler skin-based CHIM. If successful, this programme would position them to run a Phase 1 clinical trial—the first step toward a tool that could transform TB vaccine development from a decade-long gamble into a faster, more predictable process.