Aeras links with new Chinese partner for TB vaccines

China has been fighting tuberculosis (TB) for decades and is increasingly burdened by the multidrug-resistant form of the mycobacterial infection, which causes nearly 120,000 cases each year or about 25% of the world's total. If no effective treatment is developed, the country will need to spend CNY99 billion ($15.6 billion) to treat 710,000 multidrug-resistant TB patients in the period to 2020, estimates the Beijing-based Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC).