New Delhi

Health Ministry on Friday approved a new, shorter, and more effective treatment regimen for multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in India to achieve the national goal of eliminating the disease by next year.

Around 75,000 MDR-TB patients in the country will now be able to avail the benefit of this shorter regimen. There will also be an overall saving in cost.

The ministry approved the ‘BPaLM’ regimen as part of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s to end TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global target for eliminating the disease under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

A nationwide roll-out plan of the BPaLM regimen is being prepared by the Central TB Division of the ministry in consultation with states and UTs, which includes rigorous capacity building of health professionals for a safe administration of the new regimen.

This regimen includes a new anti-TB drug ‘Pretomanid’ in combination with Bedaquiline and Linezolid (with/without Moxifloxacin). Pretomanid has earlier been approved and licensed for use in India by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

The four-drug combination -- Bedaquiline, Pretomanid, Linezolid, and Moxifloxacin -- has been proven to be safe, more effective, and a quicker treatment option than the previous MDR-TB treatment procedure, according to the government.

While traditional MDR-TB treatments can last up to 20 months with severe side effects, the ‘BPaLM’ regimen can cure drug-resistant TB in just six months with a high treatment success rate.

Towards its effectiveness, the ministry ensured validation of this new TB treatment regimen via a thorough review of shreds of evidence by in-country subject experts.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare also got a health technology assessment done, through the Department of Health Research, to ensure that this MDR-TB treatment option is safe and cost-effective.

The National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), previously known as the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), aims to strategically reduce the TB burden in India by 2025.

This vision was first articulated by PM Modi at the Delhi End TB Summit in March 2018.

The country has the world’s largest TB laboratory network with 7,767 rapid molecular testing facilities and 87 culture and drug susceptibility testing labs.