PRETOMANID

About: 

• The new drug - Pretomanid - cured 89% of 107 patients with extensively drug-resistant TB after 6 months, when used in combination with antibiotics bedaquiline and linezolid. 
  
  
• The three-drug regimen consists of bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid — collectively known as the BPaL regimen. 
  
  
• Significance: 
  • Before the FDA approved this combination therapy, the most common treatment for this type of tuberculosis required patients to take around 30 pills a day plus sometimes daily injections for at least 18 months. 
    
    
  • This new treatment lowers that dose to 5 pills/day over 6 months for most patients.