In partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), SRI International is launching a tuberculosis (TB) preclinical drug evaluation program.

Among other preclinical TB drug development resources, SRI also has the capability to test up to 30,000 compounds per year against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains. The findings will be used to guide the development of new medicines against Mtb, including multidrug resistant (MDR) strains prevalent in many parts of the world.

The new program is part of the $56.9 million contract NIAID first awarded to SRI in 2006 to provide preclinical services for the development of drugs and antibodies as anti-infective therapeutics.