Delamanid and its Role in Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

Abstract

The World Health Organisation estimates that one-third of the world's population are currently infected with Tuberculosis bacillus, 10% of whom will develop the disease at some point in their lifetime. Poverty-Stricken countries of Africa and Asia bear the brunt of the disease partly due to an ominous synergy between mycobacterium bacteria and HIV. The recent recognition of MDR-TB and strains with more complex resistance patterns has stimulated the development of new TB medications including fluoroquinolones, oxazolidinones, diarylquinolines, nitroimidazopyrans. Delamanid, a newer mycobacterial cell wall synthesis inhibitor, received a conditional approval from European medicines agency (EMA) for the treatment of MDR‑TB. Preclinical and clinical studies have shown that delamanid has high potency, least risk for drug‑drug interactions and better tolerability. The purpoe of this article is to bring forward, the various roles played by Delamanid in order to curb the problem of Multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis.