The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug, bedaquiline, for only patients who have multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which can require up to 2 years of treatment. It is the first new tuberculosis drug to be green-lighted in more than 40 years, but the celebration was tempered as sobering challenges face the drug's wide scale use.

NEW YORK (Jan. 10, 2013) — Despite major advances in high-throughput screening and genomic technologies, tuberculosis (TB) drug development remains hindered by a general inability to measure the effective penetration of chemical compounds into Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria (Mtb) which cause TB. To address this gap, the Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation has awarded Weill Cornell Medical College funding to support a visiting Weill Cornell microbiologist's two-year research project at the Tres Cantos Open Lab in Spain to measure and analyze the permeability of chemical compounds into Mtb using novel metabolomics technology.

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is an incredibly important sterilizing agent in the treatment of tuberculosis and is considered responsible for reducing the duration of treatment from the previous 9-12 months, to the current short-course of 6 months produced by the standard regimen (HRZE).Beyond its contribution in the current  first-line regimen, the TB Alliance, through its ongoing novel regimen development program is finding that PZA is critical to any treatment shortening regimen, including those that contain newer agents currently in clinical development.  PZA has the ability to synergize with other drugs and this synergy drives the treatment-shortening potential of experimental regimens, such as PaMZ (PA-824 + moxifloxacin + pyrazinamide) currently under clinical development. However, resistance to PZA is on the rise, creating potential problems for PZA-containing regimens in development. Yet, there may be ways to circumvent this resistance. Investigating whether this is possible is the focus of a 1-year, $250,000 grant from the US NIH ACTG.

Scientists have identified the chemical ‘fingerprints’ given off by specific bacteria when present in the lungs, potentially allowing for a quick and simple breath test to diagnose infections such as tuberculosis.

We should not debate post-2015 targets without first shaping pre-2015 goals to better reflect today’s TB pandemic and the tools - new drugs, integrated HIV-TB services, and molecular diagnostics - that we now have to fight it.

Pakistan is ranked sixth in the world among the 22 high tuberculosis risk countries, contributing 43 percent of the disease toward the eastern-Mediterranean region of the World Health Organization, according to a recent report.

“It’s vital that we understand that this drug is a life-saver for the many who have run out of options.”

For a brief overview of activities carried out by the Secretariat and the Working Group, and events planned for the coming months, read the latest "Message from the Chair and the Secretariat".

10 January 2013 - Geneva - In January and early February, the Stop TB Partnership and WHO Stop TB Department will kick off the New Year with meetings and discussions in Geneva whose outcome could have an influential role in stimulating scaled up efforts on tuberculosis (TB).