Advances in molecular targets and chemotherapy of tuberculosis

The need for newer, effective drugs with different modes of action against tuberculosis is great, despite the numerous drugs in clinical use and the development of Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine. Three major goals should be considered in the development of new antituberculosis drugs: 1) they should be fast acting to reduce the long duration of treatment, thereby avoiding drug toxicity; 2) they should be active against both sensitive and resistant strains of tubercle bacilli; and 3) they should possess significant activity against dormant bacilli, which represent the stage affecting one-third of the world's tuberculosis patients. This review provides an overview of important current drugs, novel targets for the development of antituberculosis agents and future drug candidates. (C) 2004 Prous Science. All rights reserved.