India hails breakthrough in fight against tuberculosis
September 07, 2004 NEW DELHI (AFP)

Indian scientists have discovered a new molecule hailed in the press as a "wonder drug" in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), a mass killer on the subcontinent.

"It may reduce the treatment time to two months and may also reduce the dose to once daily," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said.

"Since 1963, this is the first success achieved in developing a new therapeutic molecule for TB," he said.

The new synthetic molecule called "Sudoterb" was identified by Bombay-based Lupin Laboratories in partnership with four institutions back in 2001. Applications have been made to start clinical trials as well as for patents in the United States and India.

The news was greeted as a major boost for Indian's burgeoning bio-medical sector which hopes to turn the country into a global centre for drug research.

However, clinical trials on healthy humans and then TB patients are expected to last four years or more before the drug can be commercialised.

India's drug controller general Ashwini Kumar took a cautious line.

"Such an application is just another proposal for a possible drug and needs evaluation before approval for human use can be given," he told the Hindustan Times.

"The drug may be a strong candidate and may have worked in animals but its effectiveness on humans is yet to be proven," said Kumar.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 4.5 million Indians have tuberculosis.

India has more TB cases than any other country, accounting for 30 percent of the world's tuberculosis patients.

Some 24,000 people are infected each day by tuberculosis, which is spread by bacteria, and around two million people die from the disease each year.