[Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute] A Pilot Clinical Trial Provides the First Clinical Proof of Concept for Ibuprofen as an Adjunctive Treatment for TB

13 July 2026

Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute news release

The Experimental Tuberculosis Unit (UTE) at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) has published in Nature Communications the results of a phase IIa pilot clinical trial assessing ibuprofen as a host-directed therapy in patients with pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).

The results show that adding ibuprofen to standard TB treatment was safe and well tolerated, without increasing adverse events. Although it was not associated with an improvement in the main clinical or microbiological outcomes, participants who received ibuprofen showed a greater reduction in several inflammatory markers and in molecular signatures associated with poorer TB outcomes.

Read the full news release here.

Source: Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute