Two Ways to Tackle Tuberculosis(eeley said. Some interrupt protein synt...),Health

The new drug cripples the activity of ATP synthase, an enzyme that plays a key role in biological energy metabolism. It does that only in the TB bacterium, not in other cells.

The journal report describes a trial in which 47 people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were given either the usual cocktail of TB drugs and TMC207, or the usual cocktail and a placebo. After eight weeks, the TB bacteria was not found in 48 percent of those getting TMC207, compared to 9 percent of those getting conventional treatment.

That trial is just the first step in testing the effectiveness of TMC207, McNeeley said. "We are now enrolling another 150 patients to get six months' treatment," he said. "When those results come in, we will be able to decide what else to do with the drug."

It's impossible to say now whether TMC207 will ever be front-line treatment for tuberculosis, McNeeley said. "We still are in the early stage of development," he noted.

More information

Learn about tuberculosis and its treatment from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: John A. Painter, team leader, immigrant, refugee and migrant health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; Yecai Liu, medical statistician, CDC; David F. McNeeley, M.D., global medical leader, clinical development, Tibotec, Yardley, Pa.; June 4, 2009, New England Journal of Medicine