New drugs to treat tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) has been a leading cause of death for more than a century. While effective therapies exist, treatment is long and cumbersome. Tuberculosis control is complicated by the overlapping problems created by global inadequacy of public health infrastructures, the interaction of the TB and human immunodeficiency virus epidemics, and the emergence of drug-resistant TB. After a long period of neglect, there is now significant progress in development of TB diagnostics and therapeutics. Focusing on treatment for active TB, we review the new pathways to TB regimen development, and the new and repurposed anti-TB agents in clinical development.

Figure 1.. Timeline for TB drug development

Major milestones in TB treatment over the last century are outlined by the date of approval of the drug or intervention. Approval dates for drugs in development are estimated.