New short-term treatment promising for multidrug-resistant TB

USA: MDR TB (resistant tuberculosis) can be treated successfully with a six-month regimen that includes only pills, a recent study published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease has found. 

"The shorter duration of therapy and the lesser pill burden will result in a better quality of life, improving health equity and access to therapy for MDR TB patients," the researchers wrote in their study. 

Tuberculosis (TB) disproportionately affects vulnerable populations including those with limited economic resources, HIV patients, those whose diet is deficient in nutrients and others. Resistant TB does not respond to first-line medications and is difficult to treat, requiring long regimens of 15-20 months that are associated with significant side effects and poor outcomes.

Recently, new six-month regimens have been shown to have better results than long-term treatments, with improved quality of life and health equity. But these novel regimens have not yet been adopted widely in the United States. In a study “Initial experience with BPaL based regimens for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment in Massachusetts” to be published, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine document that four patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC) Tuberculosis Clinic were cured of MDR TB with a six-month regimen that included bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid (BPaL).