
On September 5 and 6, 2012, the “Demystifying Pyrazinamide – Challenges and Opportunities” Workshop will be held at Johns Hopkins University and is sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, and the Stop TB Partnership Working Group on New Drugs. There will be live streaming available.
This week, efficacy data from the recently completed Phase 2 randomized placebo-controlled trial in MDR patients evaluating delamanid with background treatment compared to placebo with background treatment was published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Delamanid (OPC-67683) is a new agent derived from the nitro-dihydro-imidazooxazole class of compounds that inhibits mycolic acid synthesis. The abstract and overview of news coverage are presented, as well as, additional links to TB R&D news.
This week, we are highlighting two articles published online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in March. The first article by Coxon, et al., looks at the benefits and limitations of the two main approaches to compound discovery for TB, target-based and phenotypic-based. The second article by Phillips, et al., would like TB clinical trialists to consider new strategies or designs for evaluating TB drug regimens which could alleviate a bottleneck as new drugs and consequently new potential drug combinations move into clinical testing. Additional links to TB R&D publications and news are included.
The 243rd American Chemistry Society National Meeting and Exposition is being held in San Diego, California, from March 26 to March 29. There are several presentations on tuberculosis. Here are the abstracts of a few of the talks. The first item received news coverage and discusses two approved antibiotics that may prove effective in treating TB. Additional links to TB R&D News are included.
This week’s article highlights research out of Colorado State University that identifies a potential anti-TB compound against a unique target– the inner membrane transporter MmpL3 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis–that inhibits an essential cell function of the mycobacteria. Additional links to TB R&D News are included.