News on therapeutic management of MDR-tuberculosis: a literature review

In 2015, the World Health Organization registered 10.4 million people who developed tuberculosis worldwide and 480,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were identified. The care of multi and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis is based on a combination of pyrazinamide and second-line drugs. These regimens are lengthy, partially effective and poorly tolerated. The challenge is to re-evaluate the use of existing molecules and to develop new agents more effective against resistant strains with shorter treatment duration. This literature review gives an overview of the latest research addressing these therapeutic objectives. Some molecules are in late stage clinical development among which pretomanid is showing promising results. Bedaquiline and delamanid have been recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of drug regimens combining these molecules is under evaluation.