Researchers in the TB Alliance informed the Union Conference on Lung Health in Copenhagen that Sorbequiline, a new antibiotic drug, caused stronger action against the deadly Tuberculosis-causing bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) than existing treatments.
The trial involving 309 people across 22 sites in South Africa, the Philippines, Georgia, Tanzania and Uganda, with different dose regimens, suggested that the administration of Sorbequiline could boost cure rates and reduce the time taken to treat the disease by months.
WHO reveals that every year, 1.5 million people die from TB, making it the most infectious killer disease in the world. Also, it states that over 10 million people get infected with TB. People with weak immune systems, such as people living with HIV, malnutrition or diabetes, have an increased risk of contracting the disease.
Notably, the disease is preventable and curable.
The World Health Organisation, in an annual report, had also mentioned that the disease remained a major global public-health problem.
The Guardian quoted Dr Maria Beumont, vice-president of TB Alliance, as saying that the trial suggested a Sorbequiline-based regimen could be used for anyone testing positive.
A decade back, patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis underwent a tough treatment regimen of 18 months or even more, involving multiple injections and hospital stays, which cured only 50 per cent of the patients.
The current gold-standard treatment, introduced in 2019, treats 90 per cent of patients within six months. Now, researchers say that using Sorbequiline could improve things for the better in the coming days.
TB Alliance hopes to launch a phase-3 clinical trial in 2026.