Current advances in the clinical development of anti-tubercular agents

Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable airborne infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) that primarily affects the lungs, and can disseminate to other parts of the body. MTB is one of the most dangerous pathogens, killing about 1.4 million people annually worldwide. Although the standard treatment of TB is comprised of four anti-TB drugs, the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensive drug-resistant (XDR) strains in the recent past and associated side effects have affected the tailor-made regimens. Notably, existing therapies approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) can only treat less than 50% of drug-resistant TB. Therefore, an expeditious pace in the TB research is highly needed in search of effective, affordable, least toxic novel drugs with shorter regimens to reach the goals viz. 2020 milestones End TB strategy set by the WHO. Currently, twenty-three drug-like molecules are under investigation in different stages of clinical trials. These newer agents are expected to be effective against the resistant strains. This article summarizes the properties, merits, demerits, and the probability of their success as novel potential therapeutic agents.