1. Treatment Action Group statement on bedaquiline unaffordability Pharmaceutical negotiations continue to stand in the way as the Treatment Action Group strives for a lower bedaquiline price grounded in evidence. 2. Johnson & Johnson TB drug price reduction is important step, and governments need to urgently scale up better treatment J&J faces pressure to reduce their bedaquiline price to $1/day so governments can replace their painful and risky DR-TB treatments with this oral tablet ..read more

Tuberculosis Publications 1. Bedaquiline resistance in drug-resistant tuberculosis HIV co-infected patients.  Eur Respir J. 2020 Jun 4;55(6):1902383. doi: 10.1183/13993003.02383-2019. Print 2020 Jun. Nimmo C(1)(2)(3), Millard J(3)(4)(5), Brien K(3), Moodley S(3), van Dorp L(2), Lutchminarain K(6), Wolf A(7), Grant AD(3)(8), Balloux F(2), Pym AS(3), Padayatchi N(9), O’Donnell M(10)(11).  Genetic mutations linked to bedaquiline resistance were found before starting treatment and acquired during treatment in patients with drug-resistant TB and HIV in KwaZulu-Natal, Sout ..read more

1. FDA Approves Pediatric Formulation of Bedaquiline for Multidrug-Resistant TB Bedaquiline first received approval from the FDA in 2012 for use in adult patients. Now, the FDA has given Johnson & Johnson accelerated approval to use the drug on pediatric patients five years and older. You can access the FDA’s updated label for the drug here. 2. Tuberculosis in Children: Underdiagnosed and Undertreated A deeper dive into comprehensive, up-to-date information on treating tuberculosis in children. 3. TB Alliance Commercialization Partner, Mylan, Launches Nam ..read more

1. Progress in the roll-out of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatments. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2020 May 1;24(5):535-536. doi: 10.5588/ijtld.19.0717. Heng M(1), Allmendinger S(1), Chiang CY(2), Trébucq A(2), Horsburgh CR(1). Please see this document. Corrections to this publication are in-press for next month’s IJTLD issue. 2. Challenges in TB regimen development: preserving evidentiary standards for regulatory decisions and policymaking. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2020 Apr 28:1-3. doi: 10.1080/14787210.2020.1756776. Online ahead of print. Guglielmetti L(1)(2)(3 ..read more

1. IMPORTANT NEWS: INCREASED ACCESS TO PRETOMANID/BPaL Hope of a cure for individuals with XDR-TB. 2. WHO launches online course to improve diagnosis of drug-resistant TB WHO/Europe has launched a new online course to strengthen the capacity to diagnose drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) using molecular techniques. This free course, entitled “Drug-resistant tuberculosis: how to interpret rapid molecular test results”, is available on the OpenWHO platform and includes opportunities for participants throughout the world to seek expert advice for their diagnostic questions. 3. Korea u ..read more

EMA panel backs pretomanid for drug-resistant TB Posted on 23 Apr 2020 The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended approval of pretomanid FGK (FGK Representative Service GmbH) for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Webinar: Hear the latest about the NiX-TB regimen for XDR-TB; Slides and Recording here! Posted on 30 Mar 2020 On March 26, 2020, RESIST-TB hosted a webinar featuring Dr. Dan Everitt to discuss the recently published work on the NiX-TB trial, which focuses on treatment of extensively drug-resistant tuberculo ..read more

1. Risk factors for adverse events in household contacts prescribed preventive treatment for drug-resistant TB exposure. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Apr 8. pii: ciaa327. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa327. [Epub ahead of print] Malik AA(1)(2)(3), Becerra MC(4)(5)(6), Lash TL(1), Cranmer LM(7), Omer SB(8)(9)(10), Fuad J(2), Siddiqui S(2), Amanullah F(11), Jaswal M(2), Salahuddin N(11), Keshavjee S(4)(5)(6), Hussain H(3), Gandhi NR(1). BACKGROUND: Completion of TB preventive treatment is important to optimize efficacy; treatment-related adverse events sometimes result in discontinuation. This study describes ..read more

EMA panel backs pretomanid for drug-resistant TB The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended approval of pretomanid FGK (FGK Representative Service GmbH) for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB ..read more

1. Triumph and Tragedy of 21st Century Tuberculosis Drug Development. N Engl J Med. 2020 Mar 5;382(10):959-960. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe2000860. Thwaites G(1), Nahid P(1). Comment on     N Engl J Med. 2020 Mar 5;382(10):893-902. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe2000860 PMID: 32130819  [Indexed for MEDLINE] This article is not available via open access.  2. Treatment of Highly Drug-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis. N Engl J Med. 2020 Mar 5;382(10):893-902. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1901814. Conradie F(1), Diacon AH(1), Ngubane N(1), Howell P(1), Everitt D(1), Crook AM(1), Mendel CM(1), Eg ..read more

1. Bedaquiline resistance in drug-resistant tuberculosis HIV co-infected patients. Eur Respir J. 2020 Feb 14. pii: 1902383. doi: 10.1183/13993003.02383-2019. [Epub ahead of print] Nimmo C(1)(2)(3), Millard J(3)(4)(5), Brien K(3), Moodley S(3), van Dorp L(2), Lutchminarain K(6), Wolf A(7), Grant AD(3)(8), Balloux F(2), Pym AS(3), Padayatchi N(9), O’Donnell M(10)(11). DOI: 10.1183/13993003.02383-2019 PMID: 32060065 Read the full article here. 2. Bedaquiline-resistant Tuberculosis: Dark Clouds on the Horizon. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Feb 13. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201909-1819LE. [Epub ahea ..read more