The rapid communication allows implementation of BPaLM and BPaL regimens under programmatic conditions
TB Alliance, a global not-for-profit organisation, applauded rapid communication regarding new guidelines for treating drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) released by the World Health Organization. For the first time, almost all patients with DR-TB can be treated in six months with an all-oral regimen. Based on new clinical evidence presented and published over the past year, the new guidelines allow for the programmatic implementation of treating almost all forms of DR-TB with either BPaLM (a combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, and moxifloxacin) or BPaL (bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid).
Dr Mel Spigelman, President, and CEO TB Alliance, which developed pretomanid and first demonstrated the benefits of the BPaL regimen, said, “The WHO has just delivered excellent news for patients. This is a testament to what can be accomplished through long-term, sustained investments in TB research and development. We now have a path forward for handling the vast majority of cases of DR-TB with only six months of all-oral treatment, with simplified drug regimens that have manageable side effects, and with cure rates on the same order of magnitude as the treatment for drug-sensitive TB.”
