South Africa: Shorter, simpler DR-TB regimen expected later this year

Catherine Tomlinson
June 22, 2022, 11:50 p.m.

Work is underway in South Africa to amend the country’s national guidelines for drug-resistant TB to provide a shorter, six-month, all-oral regimen as a new standard of care treatment.

This regimen combines the new and repurposed medicines bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, and moxifloxacin. It is known as BPaL when moxifloxacin is not included and BPaLM when it is. Whether or not moxifloxacin is included in the regimen depends on whether a person’s TB is resistant to a class of drugs called fluoroquinolones. Moxifloxacin falls into this class.

The World Health Organization last month issued rapid guidance recommending the use of BPaL/BPaLM in countries’ national TB programmes.

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