The study, published Dec. 7 in The Journal of Infectious Disease, “is thought to be the first to address the knowledge gap surrounding the microbiological response of patients receiving these two therapies,” said the paper’s lead author Dr. Kayvan Zainabadi, assistant professor of molecular microbiology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Patients who have drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have a similar microbiological response to bedaquiline-based second-line medications as patients with drug-sensitive TB taking first-line regimens, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York and GHESKIO in Haiti. Second-line medications are those that are given when one or more of the drugs given first for the disease are not effective. The research could have implications for shortening the duration of treatment for drug-resistant TB, which currently requires medications for up to 2 years, while those with drug-sensitive TB complete treatment in about 6 months.
“We found that the new drugs we use to treat the drug-resistant form of the disease are as effective as our first-line medicines,” said study co-author Dr. Daniel W. Fitzgerald, director of the Center for Global Health at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Historically, they were much worse.”
Please find the details of our new publication from this Newsroom post of Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Zainabadi, the author of this new article. He is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology in Medicine, and Development Project Awardee of NYC-TRAC.