Pharmacokinetics, bactericidal activity and toxicity of short oral regimens for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis treatment

B Bern-Thomas Nyang’wa I Ilaria Motta (From Médecins Sans Frontières (L.G., F.V.), Sorbonne Université, INSERM Unité 1135, Centre d’Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses (L.G.), Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié–Salpêtrière, Centre National de Référence des Mycobactéries et de la Résistance des Mycobactéries aux Antituberculeux (L.G.), and Epicentre (M.G., E. Baudin), Paris, and Translational Research on HIV and Endemic and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Montpellier Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier (M.B.) — all in France; Interactive Development and Research, Singapore (U.K.); McGill University, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, Montreal (U.K.); UCSF Center for Tuberculosis (G.E.V., P.N., P.P.J.P.) and the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine (G.E.V.), University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco; the National Scientific Center of Phth...) R Ronelle Moodliar V Varvara Solodovnikova S Shakira Rajaram (Clinical HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) M Mohammed Rasool C Catherine Berry (From Médecins Sans Frontières (L.G., F.V.), Sorbonne Université, INSERM Unité 1135, Centre d’Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses (L.G.), Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié–Salpêtrière, Centre National de Référence des Mycobactéries et de la Résistance des Mycobactéries aux Antituberculeux (L.G.), and Epicentre (M.G., E. Baudin), Paris, and Translational Research on HIV and Endemic and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Montpellier Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier (M.B.) — all in France; Interactive Development and Research, Singapore (U.K.); McGill University, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, Montreal (U.K.); UCSF Center for Tuberculosis (G.E.V., P.N., P.P.J.P.) and the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine (G.E.V.), University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco; the National Scientific Center of Phth...) D David A. J. Moore G Geraint Davies F Frank Kloprogge

Abstract

Abstract The exposure and both Mycobacterium tuberculosis clearance rates and toxicity relationships of bedaquiline-pretomanid-linezolid- (BPaL), BPaL-clofazimine (BPaLC) and BPaL-moxifloxacin (BPaLM) for treatment of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis remain understudied. Therefore, the relationship between the patients’ exposure to anti-TB drugs in TB-PRACTECAL trial investigational regimens and their treatment outcomes was investigated. PRACTECAL-PKPD was a prospective pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics study. Patients with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis were enrolled from Belarus and South Africa. Antimicrobial exposures for bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, moxifloxacin and clofazimine were adequately estimated, were within the ranges of previously published studies but did not correlate with the speed of sputum bacterial clearance. When compared to the standard of care (SoC) arm, a 20% increased bacillary killing rate with BPaLM was observed, whilst BPaL and BPaLC displayed a 15% decreased rate. Also of note was a 20% decreased bacillary killing rate in patients with severe disease irrespective of treatment. Linezolid exposure was higher amongst patients with anaemia or neutropenia. No other exposure-toxicity relationships were identified for all other drugs. These data indicate that the studied doses of linezolid and moxifloxacin could be the right balance between effectiveness and safety, strengthening the WHO recommendation that BPaLM is the preferred regimen for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis in adolescents and adults. The study was registered in Clinical Trials.gov, TRN: NCT04081077.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 17, Issue 1
Published June 10, 2026
ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher Nature Portfolio

Journal Info

Nature Communications

Nature Portfolio

ISSN: 2041-1723 Open Access Life Sciences

Authors (10)

B

Bern-Thomas Nyang’wa

I

Ilaria Motta

From Médecins Sans Frontières (L.G., F.V.), Sorbonne Université, INSERM Unité 1135, Centre d’Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses (L.G.), Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié–Salpêtrière, Centre National de Référence des Mycobactéries et de la Résistance des Mycobactéries aux Antituberculeux (L.G.), and Epicentre (M.G., E. Baudin), Paris, and Translational Research on HIV and Endemic and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Montpellier Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier (M.B.) — all in France; Interactive Development and Research, Singapore (U.K.); McGill University, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, Montreal (U.K.); UCSF Center for Tuberculosis (G.E.V., P.N., P.P.J.P.) and the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine (G.E.V.), University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco; the National Scientific Center of Phth...

R

Ronelle Moodliar

V

Varvara Solodovnikova

S

Shakira Rajaram

Clinical HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

M

Mohammed Rasool

C

Catherine Berry

From Médecins Sans Frontières (L.G., F.V.), Sorbonne Université, INSERM Unité 1135, Centre d’Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses (L.G.), Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié–Salpêtrière, Centre National de Référence des Mycobactéries et de la Résistance des Mycobactéries aux Antituberculeux (L.G.), and Epicentre (M.G., E. Baudin), Paris, and Translational Research on HIV and Endemic and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Montpellier Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier (M.B.) — all in France; Interactive Development and Research, Singapore (U.K.); McGill University, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, Montreal (U.K.); UCSF Center for Tuberculosis (G.E.V., P.N., P.P.J.P.) and the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine (G.E.V.), University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco; the National Scientific Center of Phth...

D

David A. J. Moore

G

Geraint Davies

F

Frank Kloprogge