CHRU is at the forefront of advancing Global TB research

Dr Mohammed Rassool, deputy director of CHRU, presented at the panTB-HM Consortium Meeting on CHRU’s experience in conducting the novel 4-month pan-TB regimen study. This study forms part of the Project to Accelerate New Treatments for Tuberculosis (PAN-TB), which focuses on developing regimens that target both the host and the microbe (panTB-HM) and can be applied universally, without the need to determine rifampicin susceptibility.

Study objectives:

• To determine the efficacy, safety, tolerability, and suitability of the sutezolid, bedaquiline, pretomanid, and NAC (SBPN) regimen in novel 4-month pan-TB regimens.
• To evaluate the contribution of NAC to hepatic safety, lung function, and microbiologic efficacy.
• To compare two sutezolid dosing levels: 1200 mg vs 1600 mg daily.
• To define PK/PD and PK/TD (toxicodynamic) relationships for sutezolid.
• To assess HR-SCC as a predictor of relapse risk in TB regimen development.

These investigational regimens, built around new drugs such as sutezolid, bedaquiline, pretomanid, and NAC, represent a potential new backbone of oral pan-TB therapy. If successful, they could shorten treatment duration to 4 months for all forms of pulmonary TB, regardless of resistance profile.

This research represents a significant step toward the development of universal, host-microbe-targeted TB therapies with the potential to transform global TB control.

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