Novel Tubercular Therapeutic Agents: Need of the Day

Tuberculosis (TB), is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and affects primarily the lungs and also can spread to other organs. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an aerobic pathogenic bacterium that causes its infection usually in the lungs, but can also affect other organs of the body [1-4]. TB still represents a worldwide health threat with million new cases every year [5-7]. For this peculiar reason the first-line effective drugs presently available in market date back to several decades ago. The current drug resistant bacterial strains necessitated the invention for new anti-tubercular agents on urgent base [8-10]. Four first-line oral drugs viz., rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethombutol together are recommended for the minimum of two months therapy among nearly 6 month treatment of TB. Rifampicin and isoniazid are recommended for subsequent 4 months. Isoniazid is the most important and oldest anti-tubercular agent targets the biosynthesis of mycolic acids, basic constituent of the bacterial cell wall. Treatment of TB with these four first-line drugs leads to increased mortality and induce resistance. Multidrug resistant patients have to use second and third-line anti-tubercular agents, which are not affordable, less effective and more toxic than the firstline drugs. In this context, new anti-tubercular agents, as well as novel cellular targets, are the urgent need of the day to handle the spreading of TB worldwide as well as drug resistance. During the last few years, there have been many new anti-tubercular molecules are in preclinical and clinical trials.