Treatment of Tuberculosis: Current Status and Future Promise

Abstract

Treatment for drug-susceptible tuberculosis remains highly effective, but the need for prolonged therapy has led to problems in patient compliance that in turn promote an increase in drug resistance. Improving compliance is being addressed by directly observed therapy and combination drug products and through the development of products that will simplify dosing, but the ultimate goal would be to shorten the overall duration of therapy. Therapy of MDR-TB is more difficult particularly in the HIV-positive patient, and new therapies are clearly needed. Methods exist to assess new drugs prior to their introduction into clinical trials, and this approach is clearly important given the economic considerations in developing new drugs for tuberculosis.

Key Words:

Tuberculosis - treatment - clinical trials