TB Alliance launches Phase II clinical trial to test new drug regimen among people with TB, MDR-TB

The TB Alliance on Monday announced it has launched a Phase II clinical trial "of a new treatment regimen for tuberculosis, including for patients with resistance to existing multi-drug programs," Agence France-Presse reports. "The new regimen being tested could shorten required treatment to as little as four months in both patients with TB and some forms of drug-resistant TB, compared with the current six to 24 months," the news agency writes, adding, "Costs will also be vastly reduced." The trial "will take place at eight sites in South Africa, Tanzania, and Brazil, the alliance said," AFP notes (Santini, 3/19).