New drug boosts TB treatment
Report says human tests could begin ‘very soon’
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post
A chemical compound that drug developers had shelved as a failed treatment for inflammation has unexpectedly become the most promising new tuberculosis medicine to emerge in 40 years, scientists said Thursday.
The surprise discovery that the drug is a potent antibiotic – and one that in animals, at least, has many advantages over current TB drugs – has generated a flurry of excitement among public health specialists struggling to control the growing global scourge.