Recent advances in the treatment of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health challenge and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In the last decade, the TB treatment landscape has dramatically changed. After long years of stagnation, new compounds entered the market (bedaquiline, delamanid, and pretomanid) and phase III clinical trials have shown promising results towards shortening duration of treatment for both drug-susceptible (Study 31/A5349, TRUNCATE-TB, and SHINE) and drug-resistant TB (STREAM, NiX-TB, ZeNix, and TB-PRACTECAL). Dose optimization of rifamycins and repurposed drugs has also brought hopes of further development of safe and effective regimens. Consequently, international and WHO clinical guidelines have been updated multiple times in the last years to keep pace with these advances.