New drug combination to fight TB

A new combination of existing drugs could be vital to fighting tuberculosis, experts have found.

Extensively drug- resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) could be treated by the new mixture of clavulanate and meropenem, scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has indicated.

In the Science journal, John S. Blanchard, senior author, stated that the findings could prove to be a vital breakthrough in the fight against the disease.

"This is a great example of how, in a collaborative environment, basic, old-fashioned, hypothesis-driven science can lead to timely clinical applications," he said.

"If proven in human subjects, the ability to simplify treatment to just two drugs that work against drug-susceptible, multi-drug resistant and XDR-TB could help patients better adhere to therapy."

A new phase of research into the combination is expected to take place in South Korea by the end of 2009.

There was an estimated half-million people infected with MDR-TB in 2004, World Health Organisation figures show.