FDA approves new drug for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis

The FDA yesterday approved a new medication, called pretomanid, for highly drug-resistant tuberculosis. TB is the most fatal infectious disease in the world, and its drug-resistant forms affect some half a million people yearly. The new medication is part of a three-drug regimen that patients can take over the course of six months. Previously, patients with extensively drug-resistant TB had to take medication over the course of at least 18 months, and even then, it would work only in a third of the patients. The new regimen was found to work in nearly 90% of the patients enrolled in a 109-person clinical trial. The drug was developed by the nonprofit TB Alliance, which said in a statement that the drug should be available in the U.S. by the end of the year.