Research progress on anti-tubercular drugs

Tuberculosis (TB) is an enduring threat to global health. The epidemic persists with growing drug resistance, especially for extensively drug-resistant TB. Therefore, the treatment for TB and its associated multidrug resistance has been an ongoing challenge. Due to the greater attention and investment in the elimination of this disease, significant progress has been achieved. Bedaquiline, delamanid, and pretomanid have been approved for the clinical use. In addition, two dozens new anti-TB drugs are currently in clinical testing. China has contributed four new drugs TBI-223, TBI-166, aulimanid, and WX-081. The aim of this review is to summarize the recent advances in anti-TB drug development. Based on the different clinical stages of these anti-TB drugs, we mainly focus on mechanism of action, in vitro and in vivo pharmacological studies, pharmacokinetics and clinical studies.