Abstract

REVIEW ON BEDAQUILINE: A NEW FDA APPROVED DRUG FOR MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS

Keerthana Kripa R. R., Gopika B., *Renuka R. and Dr. Elessy Abraham

ABSTRACT

Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that can affect almost any part of the body but it is mainly an infection of lungs. It can produce silent, latent infection, as well as progressive, active disease. The challenging area is its management since patient develops drug resistant TB and with coexisting HIV. Patients with MDR-TB that is difficult to treat, such as pre-XDR-TB and XDR-TB, or intolerance to older drugs, need better options as soon as possible. Despite the rise in incidence of MDR-TB worldwide over the past few decades, no TB specific drug has been discovered in last 40 years. Emergence of some new anti-tubercular drugs is a scope as they promise high efficiency and shortens the duration of treatment. After such a long waiting period, revival in research and development activity in this area has resulted in discovery of a new anti-tubercular drug Bedaquiline/TMC207. It should be used as a part of an appropriate combination regimen for pulmonary MDR-TB in adult patients in whom the current approved regimen cannot be used because of resistance or intolerability. The emergence of this new drug can improve treatment status of TB and thus a hope for the better control of the disease.

Keywords: Mycobacterium, Anti-Tubercular drugs, Bedaquiline, MDR- TB.