New drug cocktail offers hope to patients with highly drug-resistant tuberculosis
A new three-drug, all-oral, six-month treatment is providing hope to patients in Tajikistan with highly drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, which until now had limited treatment options and poor prognosis.
Tajikistan is the first country in Central Asia and second in the world after Ukraine to provide access to the novel BPaL regimen to patients suffering from the extensively drug-resistant (XDR-TB) form of tuberculosis under operational research conditions from December 2020. The regimen consists of three drugs bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid.
XDR-TB is caused by bacteria resistant to some of the most effective anti-TB drugs and these strains develop from mismanaged treatment of patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).