Galo A. Goig, postdoctoral collaborator at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), received the 2025 SwissTB Award from the Swiss Foundation for Tuberculosis Research. The award recognises his pivotal research on the emergence and transmission of resistance to a newly recommended treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
Award winner Galo Goig. The graph from his study shows the maximum-likelihood phylogeny of the identified highly drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. (Photo: Swiss TPH)
Goig is first author of a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that resistance to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) new six-month MDR-TB regimen has already emerged – and is spreading between patients. Led by Swiss TPH in collaboration with the National Centre for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases in Georgia, the study analysed nearly 90,000 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from around the world. It found that over a quarter of highly drug-resistant cases were the result of direct transmission – a worrying trend so soon after the global rollout of the new regimen.
“It is a great honour to receive the SwissTB Award,” said Galo A. Goig. “While we expected resistance to develop over time, the fact that transmission is already a key driver is alarming. These findings underscore the urgent need for stronger surveillance and infection control to preserve the efficacy of these critical new drugs.”
As antimicrobial resistance continues to threaten global health, the study’s findings provide timely evidence to inform TB control strategies and safeguard future treatments.
The SwissTB Award is presented annually to honour outstanding tuberculosis research in Switzerland. The award ceremony took place on May 16 at the SSP/SSTS – SSSSC Joint Annual Meeting in Geneva.
Swiss TPH’s contribution to the fight against TB
Swiss TPH plays a leading role in the global fight against TB, working across five continents from basic research to health systems strengthening. Its activities range from studying host-pathogen interactions and antibiotic resistance to evaluating TB programmes and conducting clinical trials of new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines.
