CSIR Tuberculosis Drug Project Enters Phase II Clinical Trials

The Phase IIB trials will study efficacy of the drug that till target multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Indian patients

New Delhi: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) open source drug discovery (OSDD) project on Monday handed over a new drug combination to the Lala Ram Sarup TB Hospital in New Delhi to take it forward for so-called Phase IIB clinical trials to study the efficacy of the drug that will target multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Indian patients.

The treatment PaMZ was originally developed by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, but the OSDD now has the rights for it. “The trial which is sponsored by the department of science and technology will involve 240 Indian patients with multi-drug resistance. If approved, it will be available to patients without royalty,” said a scientist involved in the project.

India is home to 73,000 patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, according to the World Health Organization. To treat patients, a combination of six drugs is used over a period of two years, but with this new combination of drugs, it is hoped that the regime will be reduced to four months and the treatment would become much cheaper...