Development of new anti-tuberculosis drug candidates

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, is a tenacious and remarkably successful pathogen that has latently infected one third of the world's population, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. It is anticipated that 10% of these infected individuals will develop active tuberculosis at some point in their lifetime. The long-term use of the current drug regimen, the emergence of drug-resistant strains, and HIV co-infection have resulted in a resurgence of research efforts to address the urgent need for new anti-tuberculosis drugs. A number of potential candidate drugs with novel modes of action have entered clinical trials in recent years, and these are likely to be effective against anti-tuberculosis drug-resistant strains. They include neuroquinolone derivatives, a modified ethambutol, nitro-imidazole groups and so on. This mini-review summarizes the latest information about eight new anti-tuberculosis drug candidates and describes their activities, pharmacokinetics, mechanisms of action, and mechanisms of drug-resistance induced by these drug candidates.