New Compound That Destroys TB Bacteria Could Lead to Development of Single TB Drug, Study Says

A new compound that destroys tuberculosis bacteria by attacking four metabolic pathways simultaneously could lead to the development of a single drug to treat TB, according to a study published in Feb. 1 issue of Nature Chemical Biology, IANS/The Hindu reports. According to Rajesh Gokhale -- a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research scholar at the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi -- most TB patients take four drugs that target a specific enzyme of the TB bacteria. However, this regimen can create problems because inadequate treatment adherence or duration can lead to the development of drug-resistant TB.

For the study, Gokhale and colleagues created a compound that targets four of TB's metabolic pathways at the same time, which weakened and eventually destroyed the bacteria. According to Gokhale, the compound could lead to the development of a single TB drug that targets multiple enzymes at once, which would save time and money by eliminating the need for lengthy, supervised treatment. Gokhale said the study's findings provide "tremendous opportunity to develop" new TB drugs that "could potentially grind the assembly line to a halt at different stages of infection."

Gokhale said the development of a single compound that binds to multiple targets challenges the "'one disease -- one drug -- one target' paradigm that has dominated thinking in the pharmaceutical industry" in recent decades. He added that his team is "trying to develop a single chemical entity that could simultaneously target a family of enzymes in TB" (IANS/The Hindu, 2/2).

Although the compound is not yet suitable for humans, Gokhale said he had approached pharmaceutical companies to request assistance in developing a less-toxic version of the material. According to ANI/Malaysia Sun, it could take scientists several years to develop a drug based on Gokhale's findings, but the research "offers a measure of hope" about the development of a single TB drug (ANI/Malaysia Sun, 2/2).

An abstract of the study is available online.