Quicker cure for TB soon

South African researchers have brought the world a step closer to using a new drug combination that could shorten the time it takes to treat tuberculosis.

At least 400000 people get TB in South Africa every year and it takes six months to cure it, but some patients do not complete the course of treatment because of its length and frequent side effects.

The International Aids Conference in Melbourne was told yesterday that a new drug, PA-842, used in combination with two older medicines, could shorten the treatment time for ordinary TB from six months to four.

TB Alliance spokesman Derek Ambrosino said there had been "no new drug licensed to treat ordinary TB in 50 years, and no advance in shortening treatment since 1970".

Research showed that the new drug combination could also treat some cases of drug-resistant TB, shortening treatment from two years to six months, according to researcher Dr Rodney Dawson, of the University of Cape Town Lung Institute.

Using the new drugs combination for drug-resistant TB would cause fewer side effects.

Joanne Carter, executive director of the Results Educational Fund, praised the research findings.

"It's intolerable that one in five people with HIV dies of TB, a preventable and treatable disease.

"This new regimen could provide a shorter, simpler and less toxic TB treatment - and help ensure that more people with HIV complete their TB treatment and are cured."

There are no new drugs to treat TB because it is not profitable for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs used for only a short time by people in poorer countries, said Stellenbosch University researcher Professor Andreas Diacon.

PA-842 has been developed and tested by the TB Alliance, a not-for-profit body funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others.

The TB Alliance acquired PA-842 from a small biotechnology company in 2002 and has been developing it since.

It plans to provide it cheaply to poor countries but the NGO now needs funding to test the drug in a phase-three trial.

National Department of Health deputy director-general Yogan Pillay said: "The results of the phase two trial are exciting but we need to wait until phase three is complete before we can think of success."