<div align="justify">With India set to witness a steep rise in the number of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will test the efficacy of two new medicines for tackling the dreaded bug that causes TB.<br /><br />One of the medicines, Metformin, is widely used to treat type-II diabetes. However, ICMR plans a clinical trial to examine its effectiveness in fighting the TB microbe following encouraging scientific results from Indian biologists.<br /><br />The second drug is Bedaquiline that received the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2012 for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases. It is yet to be used in India’s public-funded national TB control programme.<br /><br />“The protocol for the Metformin trial is ready and we hope to start the trial within a couple of months. The Bedaquiline Delaminate (another new drug) trial for drug-resistant cases may take about six months to kick off,” ICMR director general Soumya Swaminathan told DH. The Metformin trial would be held in two steps.<br /><br />First, there would be a phase-II proof-of-concept trial on a limited number of patients to examine the safety of the drug in TB treatment. It would be followed by a larger trial on the medicine’s efficacy as well as for dose determination.<br /><br /></div>
<div align="justify">With India set to witness a steep rise in the number of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will test the efficacy of two new medicines for tackling the dreaded bug that causes TB.<br /><br />One of the medicines, Metformin, is widely used to treat type-II diabetes. However, ICMR plans a clinical trial to examine its effectiveness in fighting the TB microbe following encouraging scientific results from Indian biologists.<br /><br />The second drug is Bedaquiline that received the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2012 for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases. It is yet to be used in India’s public-funded national TB control programme.<br /><br />“The protocol for the Metformin trial is ready and we hope to start the trial within a couple of months. The Bedaquiline Delaminate (another new drug) trial for drug-resistant cases may take about six months to kick off,” ICMR director general Soumya Swaminathan told DH. The Metformin trial would be held in two steps.<br /><br />First, there would be a phase-II proof-of-concept trial on a limited number of patients to examine the safety of the drug in TB treatment. It would be followed by a larger trial on the medicine’s efficacy as well as for dose determination.<br /><br /></div>
