"The goal is to establish a TB Vaccine Initiative (TBVI) as a private public partnership. It will ensure an appropriate linkage between EC supported projects and global initiatives aiming at the development of new TB vaccines. TBVI will be established as a legal entity stemming from TBVAC, the FP6 EC supported project on TB vaccines, that has proven remarkably successful. TBVI will aim to facilitate the completion of vaccine development by their respective developers, and will not claim the ownership of any new products nor IP rights. Specific objectives of TBVI will be: a-To establish a working group to ensure coordination of activities related to TB vaccine development. It will comprise leaders of AERAS, BMGF, Stop TB (vaccines), TBVI and related EC projects. Regular meetings will be organized to define approaches regarding pre-clinical and clinical development. b- To advocate efforts towards the completion of TB vaccine development, including the mobilization of additional resources. c- To sustain and expand project management activities in the area of TB vaccine development . This will include advisory activities conducted through vaccine-specific product development teams (PDT) and management of specific European projects. The executive operational office will be based in ID-Lelystad (NL). A steering board comprising European scientists, with expertise in vaccine development, will meet on a monthly basis to decide on proposed and ongoing activities, development strategies and selection of new projects. A board of stakeholders/interested parties will review the overall activities and budget, and facilitate the mobilization of resources for TB vaccine development."