Patent developments in antimycobacterial small-molecule therapeutics

Abstract

At present, clinical management of patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis faces difficult problems, such as the worldwide emergence of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), and the increase in AIDS-associated infections. Development of new drugs with greater or distinct antimycobacterial activity than those currently used is, therefore, urgently desired. Three main strategies toward this effort are pursued: discovery of new targets; structural modification of existing antibiotics; and identification of nat-ural resources for novel antibiotics.