New drugs with novel mechanisms of action are urgently needed to tackle the issue of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Here, we have performed phenotypic screening using the Pathogen Box library obtained from the Medicines for Malaria Venture against
Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro
. We have identified a pyridine carboxamide derivative, MMV687254, as a promising hit. This molecule is specifically active against
M. tuberculosis
and
Mycobacterium bovis
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (
M. bovis
BCG) but inactive against
Enterococcus faecalis
,
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Klebsiella pneumoniae
,
Acinetobacter baumanii
,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
, and
Escherichia coli
pathogens. We demonstrate that MMV687254 inhibits
M. tuberculosis
growth in liquid cultures in a bacteriostatic manner. Surprisingly, MMV687254 was as active as isoniazid in macrophages and inhibited
M. tuberculosis
growth in a bactericidal manner. Mechanistic studies revealed that MMV687254 is a prodrug and that its anti-mycobacterial activity requires AmiC
-
dependent hydrolysis. We further demonstrate that MMV687254 inhibits
M. tuberculosis
growth in macrophages by inducing autophagy. In the present study, we have also carried out a detailed structure-activity relationship study and identified a promising novel lead candidate. The identified novel series of compounds also showed activity against drug-resistant
M. bovis
BCG and
M. tuberculosis
clinical strains. Finally, we demonstrate that in contrast to MMV687254, the lead molecule was able to inhibit
M. tuberculosis
growth in a chronic mouse model of infection. Taken together, we have identified a novel lead molecule with a dual mechanism of action that can be further optimized to design more potent anti-tubercular agents.