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In a new study, a drug approved to treat pneumonia showed promise in improving TB treatment rates. Globally TB infects roughly 8.8 million people and kills 1.7 million annually. An uncomplicated case of the disease typically takes six months to treat. But many patients with uncomplicated TB fail to complete the six-month treatment regimen. As a result, half a million people contract drug-resistant TB each year. Researchers led by Richard Chaisson of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine studied 170 TB patients treated at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the US Food and Drug Administration’s office of orphan product development. Read more [+/-]
The study found that 80 percent of patients given the antibiotic moxifloxacin (Avelox) plus standard treatment had no signs of TB infection in their saliva after eight weeks. That compares with around 63 percent of those given an older medication in addition to the traditional three-drug TB cocktail. Avelox is sold by German drug maker Bayer to treat pneumonia. “Moxifloxacin, in combination with other first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs, could shorten the time needed to cure [TB] by several months,” the study team reported. “A reduction in the duration of [TB] therapy would substantially improve outcomes.” In an accompanying editorial, Hans L. Rieder of the Switzerland-based International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease noted that moxifloxacin’s benefit was “surprisingly large.” “However, it remains to be seen” if newer antibiotics like Avelox will allow treatment to be shortened, he said. “What is needed, and perhaps in reach, is a regimen that is well-tolerated, of reasonably short duration, without an unacceptably high frequency of adverse drug effects, and thus an effective treatment,” said Rieder. The study, “Moxifloxacin Versus Ethambutol in the Initial Treatment of Tuberculosis: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Phase II Trial,” and the commentary, “Fourth-Generation Fluoroquinolones in Tuberculosis,” were published in The Lancet 2009;373(9670):1183-1189 and 1148-1149, respectively.
