Treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis using therapeutic drug monitoring: first experiences with sub-300 mg linezolid dosages using in-house made capsules

Despite all our efforts, the disease burden of tuberculosis (TB) is not falling fast enough to reach the 2030 milestone of the End TB strategy [1]. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis, with low treatment success rates [1]. The repurposed drug linezolid has emerged as a core drug in MDR-TB treatment regimens [2, 3], despite its toxicity, e.g. anaemia, peripheral neuropathy and gastrointestinal disorders, optic neuritis, and thrombocytopenia [4, 5]. Currently, linezolid is used off-label, as part of Group A "Medicines to be prioritised" of the World Health Organization (WHO) MDR-TB treatment guideline [2] and in several large trials [6], such as the NIX-TB and END-TB trials.

Source: European Respiratory Journal - December 3, 2019 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Bolhuis, M. S., van der Werf, T. S., Kerstjens, H. A. M., de Lange, W. C. M., Alffenaar, J.-W. C., Akkerman, O. W. Tags: Original Articles: Research letters Source Type: research