Global: New development in TB treatment

Pharmaceutical giant Tibotec and the non-profit Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) have teamed up to expedite the development of TMC207, which could become the first TB drug with a new mechanism of action in 40 years. Interim data from an ongoing Phase II study of TMC207 was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the placebo-controlled study of 47 patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), it was found that 48 percent of patients receiving TMC207 in combination with standard treatment converted to negative sputum culture after eight weeks compared with 9 percent of those who received placebo and standard treatment.