New Agents for the Treatment of Tuberculosis on Clinical Study Phases II/III

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious global health problem. The infrastructure necessary for delivering the TB treatment regimens recommended for use today accounts for more than two-thirds of the total cost of treating TB patients. Reducing the duration of the treatment regimen from the currently recommended six months to two months could result in significant cost savings and make treatment available to more patients worldwide. The objective of this review is to highlight potential new agents for treatment of drug-susceptible TB disease that are currently under study or were recently evaluated through clinical trials. We conducted a literature search in the English language for clinical studies as well as an electronic computer-assisted and manual search. The literature search was conducted on August 30, 2006, using MEDLINE (2000-2006), EMBASE (2000-2006) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) Clinical Trials Register database (2000-2006). Most of the new agents identified as anti-TB drug candidates are still in the preclinical phases. Only the diarylquinolines and the fluoroquinolones are being evaluated for potential inclusion in new ultra-short TB treatment regimens through clinical studies phases II/III. In this article, we present a summary of the studies reviewed and discuss their potential for modifying future treatment recommendations for TB treatment.