EUROPEAN REGIMEN ACCELERATOR FOR TUBERCULOSIS

In 2018 alone, about 10 million people became ill with tuberculosis (TB) globally and 1.5 million people died from it, placing this disease among the top 10 causes of death in the world. According to the WHO, about one fourth of the global population has been infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, although most infected individuals are asymptomatic. About 5-15 % of those infected develop tuberculosis and can transmit the disease. The standard TB treatment requires a 6-month course and involves the combination of several antimicrobial drugs, what makes the access and adherence to the treatment complicated. The TB epidemic has become even more serious with the rise of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and the emergence of extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). Only half of the patients with MDR-TB are successfully treated, whereas those with XDR-TB type have few treatment options. The EU-funded project ERA4TB is accelerating development of highly active oral drugs with shortened treatment durations to help end all forms of TB by 2030.