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Abstract
Drugs for tuberculosis are inadequate to address the many inherent and emerging challenges
of treatment. In the past decade, ten compounds have progressed into the clinical
development pipeline, including six new compounds specifically developed for tuberculosis.
Despite this progress, the global drug pipeline for tuberculosis is still insufficient
to address the unmet needs of treatment. Additional and sustainable efforts, and funding
are needed to further improve the pipeline. The key challenges in the development
of new treatments are the needs for novel drug combinations, new trial designs, studies
in paediatric populations, increased clinical trial capacity, clear regulatory guidelines,
and biomarkers for prediction of long-term outcome. Despite substantial progress in
efforts to control tuberculosis, the global burden of this disease remains high. To
eliminate tuberculosis as a public health concern by 2050, all responsible parties
need to work together to strengthen the global antituberculosis drug pipeline and
support the development of new antituberculosis drug regimens.
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