TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS - CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE PROMISE

Treatment for drug-susceptible tuberculosis remains highly effective, but the need for prolonged therapy has led to problems in patient comp liance that in turn promote an increase in drug-resistance, Improving compliance is being addressed by directly observed therapy and combina tion drug products and through the development of products that will s implify dosing, but the ultimate goal would be to shorten the overall duration of therapy, Therapy of MDR-TB is more difficult particularly in the HIV-positive patient, and new therapies are clearly needed, Met hods exist to assess new drugs prior to their introduction into clinic al trials, and this approach is clearly important given the economic c onsiderations in developing new drugs for tuberculosis.