HWN Suggests

An Urgent Need

Faster-acting and simplified TB drug regimens are required more urgently than ever in the fight against TB. Today’s drug regimens, which take between 6 and 24 months to complete, are lengthy and complicated to administer, and can be highly toxic. Drugs to treat drug-resistant TB are expensive and extremely toxic. In addition, drugs to treat drug-sensitive TB are not compatible with certain common antiretroviral therapies used to treat HIV. Furthermore, all TB therapies must be available in appropriate dosage formulations for children of all ages. The introduction of a new regimen of shorter duration (two to three months) and containing three or four new drugs with no pre-existing resistance…

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Articles of Interest

Common Complications of TB drugs

TB remains a devastating and fairly ubiquitous disease throughout several parts of the world despite recent downward trends in incidence.

Treatment for Extreme Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Wins U.S. Government Approval

The three-drug regimen cures 90 percent of people who have the deadliest form of the disease.

Tuberculosis Drug Development: History and Evolution of the Mechanism-Based Paradigm 

Frontline tuberculosis (TB) drugs include isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol, and rifampicin, all developed more than 40 years ago. The rational, mechanism-based development of new TB drugs is urgently needed.

Resources

Working Group on New TB Drugs

New treatments are critical to end the TB pandemic. The Stop TB Partnership Working Group on New Drugs helps coordinate, guide, and accelerate the speed of worldwide development of lifesaving new cures to improve TB therapy. Track the progress of new TB cures with our interactive pipeline.

StatPearls

Antitubercular medications: rifampin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol are FDA approved to treat Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections.