The Hindu Business Line : New vistas in TB treatment

A NEW molecule discovered by the Indian scientists for the treatment of tuberculosis promises to bring down the treatment time down to two months from the present 6-8 months. The partnership, which has secured patent protection in India and the US, has applied to the Drug Controller General of India for permission to start clinical trials.

The molecule has been developed by Lupin Ltd in partnership with four institutes under the New Millennium Indian Technology Initiative (NMITLI) project of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The institutions involved are the Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Pune-based National Chemical Laboratories and University of Hyderabad.

Informing the media, the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mr Kapil Sibal, said on Monday that this was the world's first success in developing a new therapeutic molecule for tuberculosis since the last discovery of a drug called Rifampicin in 1963.

The new molecule fits in the present four-drug therapy by replacing one or two drugs from the present cocktail and clears the infection within two months. It is also less toxic.

The present anti-TB therapy comprises four drugs — Isoniazid, Rifampicin, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol or Streptomycin. The new molecule, in combination with Isoniazid, Rifampicin and Pyrazinamide, reduced the treatment time in mice to two months. When the new molecule was given in combination with Rifampicin and Pyrazinamide, the animals were treated in three months.

Mr Sibal said that for clinical trials of the new molecule, the project would need about Rs 50 crore. In this connection, the Drug Development Fund, proposed by a committee headed by the CSIR Director-General, Mr R.A. Mashelkar, would have been of help, he said.

The three phases of clinical trials may take around four years after which the drug can hit the market. However, an Investigational New Drug Application has been filed with the DCGI.

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