Title:The Relevance of New Drug Combinations for Modern Tuberculosis Treatment - A Patent Perspective
VOLUME: 8 ISSUE: 2
Author(s):Alessandra C. Pinheiro and Marcus V. N. de Souza
Affiliation:FioCruz - Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto de Tecnologia em Farmacos – Far Manguinhos, Rua Sizenando Nabuco, 100, Manguinhos, 21041-250 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Keywords:Drug combinations, Tuberculosis, fixed-dose combinations, MDR-TB, XDR-TB.
Abstract:Drug combinations (DCs) have been successfully used in different kinds of diseases such as cancer, AIDS,
malaria, infectious diseases, asthma, diarrhea, hypertension, neurological disorders, among others. In this context, an
important concept in drug discovery relates to the fixed-dose combinations (FDC), which can be defined as a formulation
of two or more biologically active substances, combined in a single drug, and available at certain fixed doses. FDC
presents several advantages, such as reduced risks of emergence of drug resistant strains, improvement of patient compliance,
reduced costs of treatment and a simplified drug supply management, shipping and distribution. Due to the importance of
DCs in drug discovery, the purpose of this review is to highlight the importance of this strategy for tuberculosis treatment
and also for studies of new promising drug combinations to be used against this disease, specially focused on resistant
bacterial strains. Relevant patents concerning combined treatment of tuberculosis are analyzed.
