Indian Health Ministry Approves New Treatment Regimen for Drug-Resistant TB

6 September 2024

The Union Health Ministry has approved the introduction of a new treatment regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis in India. The BPaLM regimen consisting of four drugs — bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid and moxifloxacin — has proven to be a safe, more effective and quicker treatment option than the previous multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment procedure, the Ministry said on Friday (September 6, 2024).

It added that the country is working towards TB elimination by 2025, five years ahead of the global target for eliminating the disease under the Sustainable Development Goals. As part of these efforts, the Ministry has introduced the BPaLM regimen, a novel treatment for MDR-TB under its National TB Elimination Programme. This regimen includes a new TB drug, pretomanid, in combination with bedaquiline and linezolid (with/without Moxifloxacin). Pretomanid has earlier been approved and licensed for use in India by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

While traditional treatments can last up to 20 months with severe side effects, the BPaLM regimen can cure drug-resistant TB in just six months with high treatment success rate. India’s 75,000 drug-resistant TB patients will now be able to avail benefits of this shorter regimen. Along with the other advantages, there will also be overall savings in cost.

India has the world’s largest TB laboratory network with 7,767 rapid molecular testing facilities and 87 culture and drug susceptibility testing laboratories, the Ministry added.

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Source: The Hindu