“We are very close to eliminating the disease in the foreseeable future” – Professor Amina Jindani, Emeritus Professor, Tuberculosis Therapeutics, Institute of Infection and Immunity St. George’s, University of London, United Kingdom
An international clinical trial conducted at St. George’s, University of London and led by internationally renowned clinical specialist, Professor Amina Jindani, has shown that a higher dose of existing drugs for a shorter period for the cure of tuberculosis is safe, affordable, and effective.
This treatment will result in higher cure rates, save millions of dollars to resource poor countries and be attractive to patients who are often burdened by long term therapies. The trial, funded by the Medical Research Council of England with help received from the Aga Khan Foundation Canada for the patients of the Aga Khan University Karachi, involved Botswana, Uganda, Guinea, Peru, Nepal and Pakistan. Earlier clinical trials were conducted in Bolivia, Colombia, China, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Mozambique.
Tuberculosis has ravaged society for many centuries and its elimination in the Western world should not be a cause for complacency, cautions Professor Amina Jindani. “We are literally a flight away from the bacterium infecting a whole plane load of people and then many more as a result. Given globalisation and our experience of COVID, the pandemic hangs on us as a constant threat”.
Amina Jindani, who has been at the helm of a battle for finding a cure for sixty years has been operating on a virtual shoestring. The secret of her success lies in the fact that she realises the futility of expecting new drugs to come on the market for the cure of a disease that does not yield any profit. “Tuberculosis was once the disease of the royalty. Today it belongs to the poor man. From the development of a drug to its final testing takes some 22 years and costs around 2 billion dollars. Our best hope is using the existing drugs more creatively”.
Professor Jindani, originally from Zanzibar, was one of the first cohorts of women from the Ismaili community from Africa to go overseas to study medicine. The youngest of six daughters, she attributes her opportunity to study to the guidance of Imam Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan who prevailed upon her parents to send her overseas with a view to making her a doctor. This was guidance given when she was in her young teens. For her lifelong work in tuberculosis, she was conferred with the Avicenna Prize for Medicine in 2018 by the Muslim News in the UK and the Princess Chichibu Global Memorial TB Award in 2019 given by the Japan Antituberculosis Association in memory of the Japanese Princess who dedicated her life to the elimination of the disease. Not one to give up easily Professor Jindani who runs her own NGO “World without TB” is now looking at prospects to find a three-month cure.
St. George’s University of London Press Release
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