But there is good news too. Thanks to rigorous scientific research, we have shorter, safer, and more effective therapies for treating drug-resistant TB now.
Watershed moment in TB-treatment science
The final phase-3 results of the ZeNix study were published in New England Journal of Medicine and show that BPaL treatment regimen consisting of three medicines - Bedaquiline, Pretomanid, and Linezolid - is not only highly effective against drug-resistant forms of TB, but this high effectiveness can also be maintained with reduction in dosing and/or duration of Linezolid. Reduction in dosing and duration of Linezolid means people on this therapy faced less Linezolid-related side effects - so treatment becomes more tolerable.
This ZeNix study was led by TB Alliance and took place in eleven sites across Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and South Africa.
Why ZeNix study results are important and build upon the evidence of previously done Nix-TB study
The Nix-TB Study results, which were published in New England Journal of Medicine in 2020, had shown very high treatment success rate of over 90% when all-oral BPaL treatment regimen was used for six months to treat drug-resistant forms of TB. But the Linezolid-related side effects were very alarming.
High treatment effectiveness of BPaL regimen in Nix-TB study "came at the cost with very high rates of toxicity - 81% of the patients, who had one or more episodes of peripheral neuropathy, required the regimen to be either dose-adjusted, interrupted or abandoned altogether, and 48% of participants experienced one or more episode of myelosuppression so a reduction in haemoglobin (red blood cells), white blood cells or platelets," said Dr Conor Tweed, Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Medical Research Council, Clinical Trials Unit at University College London (UCL), who was in conversation with CNS. Jessica Wiggs, Senior Communication Specialist of TB Alliance also joined the conversation.
That is why ZeNix Study was conducted to check if Linezolid-related side effects could be reduced with reduced Linezolid dosing and/or duration of therapy, and how this would impact the effectiveness of the BPaL regimen.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
