MANILA — A large-scale international study found a shorter treatment course for tuberculosis, but policy considerations, as well as drug cost and availability, could delay its implementation.
The current standard treatment for people with drug-susceptible TB runs for six months and includes a combination of the drugs isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. All four drugs are taken for two months, and then patients switch to isoniazid and rifampin for the remaining four months.
But results of the 31/A5349 study — led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tuberculosis Trials Consortium and the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, with funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — found that a four-month treatment course replacing rifampin and ethambutol with high-dose rifapentine and moxifloxacin, respectively, is as safe and effective as the six-month treatment regimen in curing patients with drug-susceptible TB.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.