International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
Volume 35, Issue 6 , Pages 524-526, June 2010

Thioridazine cures extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and the need for global trials is now!

  • Leonard Amaral

      Affiliations

    • Unit of Mycobacteriology/UPMM, Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author.
    • ,
  • Martin J. Boeree

      Affiliations

    • Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre and ULC Dekkerswald, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Stephen H. Gillespie

      Affiliations

    • University College London, Centre for Medical Microbiology, Royal Free Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London, UK
    • ,
  • Zarir F. Udwadia

      Affiliations

    • Hinduja Hospital and Research Center, Mumbai, India
    • ,
  • Dick van Soolingen

      Affiliations

    • Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

published online 26 February 2010.

Abstract 

Thioridazine (TDZ) has been shown to have in vitro activity against multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, to promote the killing of intracellular MDR and XDR strains and to cure the mouse of antibiotic-susceptible and -resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) infections. Recently, TDZ was used to cure 10 of 12 XDR-TB patients in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time of writing, it is being used for the therapy of non-antibiotic-responsive terminal XDR-TB patients in Mumbai, India, on the basis of compassionate therapy and although it is too early to determine a cure, the patients have improved appetite, weight gain, are afebrile and free of night sweats, and their radiological picture shows great improvement. Because XDR-TB is essentially a terminal disease in many areas of the world and no new effective agents have yet to yield successful clinical trials, global clinical trials for the therapy of XDR-TB are urgently required.

Keywords: Pulmonary tuberculosis, Multidrug-resistant TB, Extensively drug-resistant TB

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PII: S0924-8579(10)00021-X

doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2009.12.019

International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
Volume 35, Issue 6 , Pages 524-526, June 2010

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