Bedaquiline: A Novel Diarylquinoline for Multidrug-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis

A new drug Bedaquiline, a diarylquinoline agent has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. It has been given approval for use along with the basic regimen with only conditional access through the National Program for tuberculosis in India. The major problem with existing antitubercular drugs used for the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is antimicrobial resistance, less efficacy, and poor side effect profile. Bedaquiline might be a solution to these issues. Bedaquiline is a first of its class drug with a unique and specific mechanism of action. It inhibits mycobacterial adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase's proton pump. There are many randomized clinical trials and cohort studies that reported a higher culture conversion rate with bedaquiline treatment as compared to the control group. Many meta-analyses and systematic reviews have reported higher culture conversion rate, higher cure rate, and lower mortality rate in patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis treated with a bedaquiline-containing regimen. Here is a detailed drug profile of bedaquiline to help health care workers treat tuberculosis patients. Keywords: