Recent Advances in Tuberculosis Drug Development

Abstract

The emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis is a growing disease worldwide. The lack of safe and effective drugs, together with the frequent development of adverse drug reactions could result in worse condition. Therefore, new drugs able to booster the current tuberculosis treatment regimen are urgently required. Novel drugs that are effective and safe against Mycobacterium tuberculosis are required to reduce the number of drugs and the duration of treatment in both drug-susceptible tuberculosis and multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Due to increased number of multidrugresistant and extensively drug-resistant strains and the ineffectiveness of the current treatment against latent tuberculosis are challenges to be overcome in future. The scenario of drug discovery becomes upsetting when it is considered that the number of new drugs does not increase proportionally to the emergence of drug resistance. In this review, we will demonstrate the recent advances in anti-tubercular drug discovery, centre of attention on the research of compounds with potent anti-tuberculosis activity against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis strains. Although, the best treatment regimen for achieving better results and preventing adverse drug reactions remains yet to be determined, with safety concerns regarding cardiac events due to QT prolongation still to be addressed. Therefore a simple and short treatment with higher efficacy, and lesser adverse drug reactions and drug-drug interaction is expected for patients with multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.