Priority Areas for Research on Anti-Tuberculosis Treatment

Present treatment regimens for tuberculosis (TB) are long, complex, and, for drug-resistant TB, toxic and expensive. Priorities in designing new and improved regimens are to shorten and simplify treatment, decrease the incidence of side effects with minimal clinical or laboratory monitoring, ensure high-cure rates and affordability, linked with better point-of-care diagnostics. Markedly improved therapeutic regimens are dependent on having a robust pipeline of novel TB drug candidates. While the present pipeline is more robust than ever, it is still most likely insufficient to meet the goals of many of the present target regimen profiles, especially that of a pan-TB or universal regimen. Joint efforts are needed to identify novel drug combinations that would permit reaching the goals of shorter, better, and safer treatment. Faster and more efficient drug development pathways with novel designs will be extremely beneficial in reaching the goals of improved therapies.