TB treatment in just two months: Study

TRUNCATE-TB trial promises that the patients can be cured before the standard 6-month treatment.

Hyderabad: In a promising study that could bring a lot of relief to tuberculosis (TB) patients, researchers have now demonstrated that the ailment can be treated in just two months, as opposed to the normal six months of treatment regimen, which is prevalent worldwide.

The multi-country TB treatment study titled TRUNCATE-TB is a randomised control trial underway among TB patients in India, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Uganda and was presented in the recently concluded virtual The union World Conference on Lung Health in November.

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The rationale behind the TRUNCATE-TB trial is that physicians worldwide are over treating majority of people who have drug-susceptible TB (DS-TB) who would actually be cured before the 6-month mark, to prevent relapse in a minority of people who would need the long treatment regimen.

The eye-opening study has revealed that the standard six-month treatment is actually over-treating a lot of people who have TB, which is the world’s leading infectious killer, The International union against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (The Union), said.

The trial evaluates an alternative strategy comprising treatment for 2 months that includes (8 weeks, extended to 12 weeks if inadequate clinical response) with a regimen predicted to have enhanced sterilising activity (‘boosted regimen’) and monitoring closely after treatment cessation.

A total of 674 trial participants were recruited from March 2018 to March 2022 from the five countries. The trial participants were initially given eight weeks of treatment, with the option of extending treatment to 10 to 12 weeks if they had persistent clinical disease after the eight-week treatment.

The trials also assessed combinations of at least four to five currently approved oral anti-TB medications, which are given daily for 8 weeks, with the potential to extend to 12 weeks.

“If there was still active TB after that, participants were switched to the standard six-month treatment. It was noted that overall death rate was low and there was no difference in the death rate between the standard treatment arm and the TRUNCATE strategy arms,” The union in a statement said.