Despite 25 years of clinical trials, there has been only modest progress in improving treatment of rifampin-susceptible TB.
A perspective, published in PLOS Medicine, proposes a shift in the focus of the clinical trials to improvŠµ the safety and acceptability of treatment, rather than treatment-shortening. Because adverse events increase the risk of treatment failure and recurrence, a focus on safety and acceptability should result in an improvement in both the patient’s experience of treatment and traditional TB treatment outcomes.