The addition of bedaquiline to a preferred background regimen for 24 weeks resulted in faster culture conversion and significantly more culture conversions at 120 weeks, as compared with placebo. There were more deaths in the bedaquiline group than in the placebo group. (Funded by Janssen Pharmaceuticals; TMC207-C208 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00449644.).

The clinical activity of TMC207 validates ATP synthase as a viable target for the treatment of tuberculosis. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00449644.)

The 2-year follow-up results for a randomized placebo-controlled study of 47 patients with multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis treated with either the new diarylquinoline TMC207, recently renamed bedaquiline, or placebo, added to the first 8 weeks of a background regimen, are presented. Bedaquiline significantly reduced the time to culture conversion over 24 weeks (hazard ratio, 2.253; 95% confidence interval, 1.08 to 4.71; P ‫؍‬ 0.031). With the exception of nausea reported in 26% of patients receiving bedaquiline and none receiving placebo, adverse events occurred at similar frequencies in both groups of patients: bilateral hearing impairment, extremity pain, acne, and noncardiac chest pain occurred in 13 and 21%, 17 and 13%, 9 and 17%, and 4 and 17% of patients, respectively, receiving bedaquiline or placebo. Excluding resistance to ethambutol and ethionamide, only one patient receiving bedaquiline acquired resistance to companion drugs, but five patients receiving placebo (4.8% versus 21.7%; P ‫؍‬ 0.18) acquired resistance to companion drugs, and resistance to ofloxacin was acquired in four patients receiving placebo and none receiving bedaquiline (0% versus 22%; 0 ‫؍‬ 0.066). In all, 23 patients (49%), including 13 receiving placebo (54%) and 10 receiving bedaquiline (44%), discontinued the study prior to its completion, 12 during the first 24 weeks of treatment. Eight subjects were withdrawn for noncompliance or default, and seven withdrew consent, citing the rigorous program of investigations for safety and pharmacokinetic monitoring. Bedaquiline may contribute to the management of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis by effecting more rapid sputum culture negativity and by preventing acquired resistance to companion drugs. M ultidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) is a serious form of TB and the term MDR implies resistance to at least the essential first-line agents isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RMP); because INH and RMP are no longer effective, patients with MDR pulmonary TB must be treated for at least 20 months with potentially toxic, less efficacious drugs (20). MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates will frequently also be resistant to the other first-line drugs pyrazinamide (PZA), ethambutol (EMB), or streptomycin (or SM) and, at times, other drugs such as ethionamide (Eth), a fluoroquinolone, or injectable drugs such as kanamycin (KAN), amikacin, or capreomycin (CAP). MDR TB with additional resistance to the last two mentioned classes is termed extensively drug-resistant (XDR). The spread of MDR TB, particularly among communities with a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, is threatening the foundations of TB control programs worldwide (19). TMC207, recently renamed bedaquiline, is a diarylquinoline with a novel mode of action specifically inhibiting mycobacterial ATP synthase (1).The present randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of bedaquiline when it is added to a background regimen (BR) in newly d...

Bedaquiline, a diarylquinoline, improved cure rates when added to a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment regimen in a previous placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial (TMC207-C208; NCT00449644). The current phase 2, multicenter, open-label, single-arm trial (TMC207-C209; NCT00910871) reported here was conducted to confirm the safety and efficacy of bedaquiline.Newly diagnosed or previously treated patients with MDR-TB (including pre-extensively drug-resistant (pre-XDR)-TB or extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB) received bedaquiline for 24 weeks with a background regimen of anti-TB drugs continued according to National TB Programme treatment guidelines. Patients were assessed during and up to 120 weeks after starting bedaquiline.Of 233 enrolled patients, 63.5% had MDR-TB, 18.9% had pre-XDR-TB and 16.3% had XDR-TB, with 87.1% having taken second-line drugs prior to enrolment. 16 patients (6.9%) died. 20 patients (8.6%) discontinued before week 24, most commonly due to adverse events or MDR-TB-related events. Adverse events were generally those commonly associated with MDR-TB treatment. In the efficacy population (n=205), culture conversion (missing outcome classified as failure) was 72.2% at 120 weeks, and 73.1%, 70.5% and 62.2% in MDR-TB, pre-XDR-TB and XDR-TB patients, respectively.Addition of bedaquiline to a background regimen was well tolerated and led to good outcomes in this clinically relevant patient cohort with MDR-TB. @ERSpublications Bedaquiline safety data in a broad patient population treated for drug-resistant TB including XDR-TB (C209 study)

These results suggest that levetiracetam is an effective and well-tolerated adjunctive treatment for patients with previously uncontrolled idiopathic generalized epilepsy with myoclonic seizures.