About TAACF: Tuberculosis Antimicrobial Acquisition and Coordinating Facility

A Program for the Identification of Novel Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs

The TAACF was established by NIAID to screen a diversity of compounds for anti-TB activity in high quality in vitro and in vivo assays. The TAACF is a no-cost anti-tuberculosis testing service providing preclinical drug screening and efficacy testing services in order to accelerate new TB drug development. This program encourages academic researchers and pharmaceutical company investigators to explore tuberculosis research.

All services are without cost and the data on individual compounds are provided confidentially under non-disclosure agreement to the original supplier. The supplier also retains all commercialization rights. Compounds submitted to the TAACF are subject to:

• No Cost to Supplier
• Absolute Confidentiality
• Intellectual Property Rights Retention by Supplier
• Complete Data Reporting
  

The TAACF integrates three testing components into a unified program to facilitate the search for anti-mycobacterial drugs. Southern Research Institute (SRI) coordinates the TAACF program. SRI interacts with interested compound suppliers and coordinates all compound acquisition duties, data entry and database maintenance, testing coordination, and data report generation and delivery. As part of a new contract, SRI has developed a new high-throughput screening (HTS) service that allows for screening of large compound libraries against specific validated targets for TB.  Colorado State University (CSU) receives compounds that show promising in vitro activity and performs in vivo screening services for the compounds.

RTI International (RTI) manages NIAID's Tuberculosis Technology Transfer Support program. RTI works with compound suppliers to develop comprehensive promotional packages and to facilitate partnerships with pharmaceutical companies for drug development.