New Antibiotic Shortens Tuberculosis Treatment Time
Key points
- A new antibiotic may work faster against tuberculosis than other drugs currently in use, based on studies conducted on mice.
- Globally, tuberculosis is second only to AIDS as a leading cause of death from infectious disease, causing approximately two million deaths per year.
- The drug belongs to a family of compounds called "diarylquinolines," or "DARQs" recently patented by Johnson & Johnson.
- Next, the researchers tested their compound in mice, finding that one month of treatment with a drug cocktail that included R207910 reduced the bacterial load in the lungs to the same extent than the old cocktail did after two months.
A new antibiotic may work faster against tuberculosis than other drugs currently in use, based on studies conducted on mice. There is also evidence that the antibiotic may work against multidrug-resistant strains of tuberculosis.
Studies in healthy human volunteers indicate the drug is safe for humans to take, and further human studies are currently underway.
These findings, by Koen Andries of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, LLC in Beerse, Belgium, and colleagues, will appear in the December 9 online edition of Science Express, part of the journal Science, published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.
TB, AIDS Epidemics Fuel One Another
Globally, tuberculosis is second only to AIDS as a leading cause of death from infectious disease, causing approximately two million deaths per year. The tuberculosis and HIV epidemics fuel one another; at least 11 million adults are infected with both pathogens, according to the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development.
No new tuberculosis-specific drugs have been discovered in the last 40 years, and emerging strains of the bacterium that are resistant to multiple drugs are an increasingly worrisome problem. The current treatment for drug-sensitive tuberculosis recommended by the World Health Organization consists of a cocktail of drugs that must be taken for six to nine months.
"The world desperately needs a new tuberculosis drug that can combat resistant strains of the bacterium and that is easier for patients to take. The evidence thus far suggests that this new drug lead may be up to both tasks, which is encouraging news for global health," said Katrina Kelner, Deputy Editor, life sciences, at Science.
"If this drug is ultimately approved for humans, it could lead to a change in treatment paradigm for tuberculosis," Andries said.
Inhibits Cell's Energy-Producing Machinery
The drug belongs to a family of compounds called "diarylquinolines," or "DARQs" recently patented by Johnson & Johnson. The research team identified this family by screening a large number of compounds from its chemical "library" to see what effects the compounds had on M. smegmatis (used as a surrogate for M. tuberculosis because it's nonpathogenic).
The most promising member of the DARQ family was a compound called R207910.
R207910 operates in a completely different way from other known antibiotics, the findings suggest. It appears to inhibit the cell's machinery for producing energy in the form of ATP molecules. Currently there are four main classes of antibiotics, those that inhibit the bacteria's cell-wall synthesis, protein synthesis, folate biosynthesis, or nucleic acid replication.
"Our compound is very different because it's the first antibiotic to my knowledge shown to be active against any bacteria by inhibiting their energy supply. The name DARQ was invented before we identified this mechanism, but you could describe what the drug does as cutting off the energy for bacteria - turning off the lights, you could say," Andries said.
Written and revised by
Gerald Hurowitz, M.D.
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