India, July 17 -- The Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI) has signed a landmark agreement with the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SII) to manufacture M72/AS01E, a promising tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials.

If approved, M72/AS01E could become the first new TB vaccine introduced in more than a century, marking a major breakthrough against a disease that remains the world's deadliest infectious killer and disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries, SII said in a statement.

The partnership is aimed at ensuring that, if the vaccine receives regulatory approval, it can be manufactured at scale and made available quickly to adults and adolescents in countries...