Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis claims millions of lives each year globally. Although it can be controlled by currently available drug regimen (DOTS), yet the emergence of multidrug resistance (MDR) and extensively drug resistance (XDR) TB is a growing concern. The increasing rate of MDR-TB, co-infection with HIV and XDR-TB necessitates the development of new anti-TB agents that have a practical impact on tuberculosis control. This review article gives a brief introduction of tuberculosis, present day problems, traditional and new anti-TB drug targets, currently used drugs, their mode of action, the pipeline compounds and a short description of new chemical entities (NCEs) as antitubercular agents developed in last 10 years.

Keywords: Antitubercular agents, Arabinogalactan, Chemotherapy, Extensively Drug Resistance (XDR), Fatty acid synthase, MultiDrug Resistance (MDR), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycolic acid, Peptidoglycan, Tuberculosis (TB)