Discovery of Q203, a potent clinical candidate for the treatment of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis kills more than a million people annually, and new treatments are necessary to counter the spread of drug-resistant forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this issue, Kevin Pethe and his colleagues report their identification of a new antibercular drug, called Q203, that targets the mycobacterial cytochrome bc1 complex and that showed efficacy in vitro and in vivo.