New drug could be a breakthrough in treatment for killer TB, trial suggests

Sorfequiline shows stronger action than existing treatments against illness that killed 1.23 million last year

A new treatment for tuberculosis could boost cure rates and shorten the time needed to treat the disease by months, trial results suggest.

Globally, an estimated 10.7 million people fell ill with TB last year and 1.23 million died from it.

In its annual report on tuberculosis, launched last week, the World Health Organization said it remained a “major global public-health problem” and the leading infectious cause of death.

Progress is being threatened by aid cuts and already falling short of targets towards a UN goal of ending TB as a public-health threat this decade, the WHO said.