and accessible in endemic countries. History TB Alliance was conceived at a February 2000 meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, where 120 representatives from academia, industry, major government agencies, non-governmental organizations and donors gathered to discuss the problems of tuberculosis treatment. Participants stressed the need for faster-acting, novel TB drugs and highlighted the scientific opportunities involved. The resulting "Declaration of Cape Town" provided a road map for TB drug development and outlined the need for creation of the TB Alliance. Maria Freire was appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer and President in 2001 and served in that capacity until 2008, when she left the TB Alliance to become President of the Lasker Foundation. The current CEO and President is Melvin Spigelman. Program TB Alliance is a non-profit product development partnership (See public-private partnership). A PDP builds partnerships between the public, private, academic and philanthropic sectors to drive the development of new products for underserved markets. PDPs retain direct management oversight of their projects, though much of the laboratory and clinical work is done though external research facilities and contractors. This model minimizes costs, including overhead and investments in infrastructure, while optimizing scientific capability to speed new TB drug development. TB Alliance has the largest pipeline of TB drugs in history and part of TB Alliance’s stated mission is to ensure that any new treatments are affordable and accessible in the developing world, and that they are adopted as soon as they become available. Pricing terms are included in all licensing contracts and end products are designed to be easy for patients to take. TB Alliance also collaborates with national and international partners, working to ensure that new therapies are adopted and accessible to healthcare providers and patients via local channels. In February 2019, TB Alliance’s application for the novel tuberculosis (TB) medicine pretomanid was accepted for review by the U.S. FDA. In August 2019, TB Alliance's tuberculosis (TB) medicine pretomanid was approved by the U.S. FDA, to be used in combination with two other antibiotics, bedaquiline and linezolid, for the treatment of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB as well as treatment-intolerant or nonresponsive multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB. Treating drug-resistant TB Combination therapies are essential for treating active tuberculosis infections. Currently, there are four first-line tuberculosis drugs given as a combination therapy over an extended period of time. Some strains of the tuberculosis pathogen are resistant to two (called MDR-TB) or at