Clinical trials of gatifloxacin: shorter tuberculosis treatment regimen?(Safety and Efficacy Issues)

World Health Organization -- Clinical results on a new combination treatment that could dramatically shorten the length of tuberculosis (TB) treatment were recently presented at the 45th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, in Washington, D.C.

The phase II trial results of a gatifloxacin-containing regimen have demonstrated good potential. The regimen is significantly more potent than the currently recommended six-month regimen of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol, and suggests that when gatifloxacin is used instead of ethambutol, the standard six-month regimen may be shortened to four months. This is the most …