By Theo Smart
With the release of the TMC207 efficacy data, and with data
due soon from a number of other new compounds together with other drugs which
are being ‘repurposed’ for TB, the TB drug pipeline has never looked more promising.
There were at least 5 separate symposia at the Union World Conference on Lung
Health in Berlin
that focused either on advances in treatment, new drugs, optimising classes of
drugs (fluoroquinolones or rifamycins) or on the substantial challenges of
their clinical development.
Indeed, evaluating multiple new TB drugs and getting the
ones that work to the market as quickly and carefully as possible poses a
number of unprecedented and formidable logistical, ethical and technical
challenges for the TB research establishment.
Drug companies and research programmes are considering novel
clinical trial designs, carefully considering the most appropriate clinical
endpoints, and whether surrogate markers for TB drug effectiveness might
expedite the process — and asking how to package the drugs (individually or in
fixed dose combinations). How will so many new drugs be tested? Which
combinations of drugs should be prioritised?
Some of these drugs will almost certainly qualify for
accelerated approval— and there will be a need to provide compassionate use to
the potentially life-saving drugs for people with few other options — and to
gather more safety data through parallel track expanded access programmes. How
can this be done responsibly — while limiting the opportunities for the
development of resistance to the new compounds — will be of paramount
importance.
The inadequacy of
existing MDR-TB regimens
Several sessions of the conference starkly
illustrated the need for new drugs to treat drug
sensitive and resistant TB. Dr Christian Lienhardt of WHO detailed the principles (and drawbacks)
of existing regimens for MDR-TB. According to current WHO guidance, the regimen
must include at least 4 drugs with ‘almost certain effectiveness, based on drug
sensitivity testing (DST) and/or the patient’s drug history.’
But more than four drugs may be needed if the susceptibility pattern is unknown, if one or more of the agents being used is of
questionable effectiveness, or if there is extensive, bilateral pulmonary
disease.
At least one of the drugs should be an injectable agent (an
aminoglycoside or capreomycin) that is used for a minimum of 6 months. The
other drugs need to be administered six days a week, using directly observed
therapy (DOT) throughout treatment for a minimum duration of 18 months — and
most of the time 24 months — beyond culture conversion.
The shortcomings of the existing approach to MDR-TB
treatment are many, starting with the fact that the drugs are extremely
expensive and not easily available everywhere they are needed. Moreover, the
long duration of treatment, together with the toxicity of drugs and problems
with drug interactions, lead to high rates of default, poor treatment outcomes
and increasing drug resistance.
This was clearly illustrated in preliminary data from the
PETT study, presented by Dr Peter Cegielski of the US Center for Disease
Control (CDC). The study found the emergence of additional drug resistance on
MDR-TB treatment, even in projects approved by the Green Light Committee
(established to improve the quality of MDR-TB care and increase access to
appropriate second line therapy for people with MDR-TB). The purpose of the study was actually to see
whether the Green Light Committee projects result in less resistance — and
indeed so far this seems to be the case, though Dr Cegielski cautioned that the
data analysis is incomplete — currently based upon final drug sensitivity
testing (DST) of only 561, or two thirds, of the participant’s paired isolates
(isolates taken at baseline and later over the course of follow-up).
However, over time, there was a steady increase in
resistance from the pattern at baseline. Between 9.4% (GLC arm) and 15.1%
(non-GLC arm) acquired resistance to fluoroquinolones within a mean of 9.6 and 7.4
months on treatment respectively; and resistance to the second line injectable
drugs was found after a mean of a little over 7 months on treatment, in 6.6% in
the GLC arm and 10.7% in the non-GLC arm. A small proportion of participants
had isolates that, at baseline, were not only MDR, but also resistant to either
the fluoroquinolones or the second-line injectables. Of these, about a quarter
who were at the GLC sites went on to develop XDR-TB within a mean of 9.9
months; while the non-GLC sites, 46.9% of these ‘pre-XDR-TB’ cases became
XDR-TB, within a mean of 5.7 months. Otherwise, the development of XDR-TB from
MDR-TB was relatively rare (in 0.94% of GLC ad 4.4% of the non-GLC
participants).
Another presentation in the same session focused on the adverse
events associated with MDR-TB treatment. Dr Gunta Dravniece, who works with
KNCV, described how over 70% of people on second-line treatment experience at
least one adverse event, the median number is closer to three, and many
patients experience several more. The most common are nausea and vomiting —
which, as one audience member suggested must have a negative effect on drug
exposure in the patient, and could potentially increase the risk of further
resistance developing.
Clearly, there is a need for new drugs that can make these
second line TB treatment regimens more effective, less toxic and, one hopes,
much shorter than the current 18-24 months. While the session was supposed to
present new data from studies on two such drugs, TMC-207 and OPC-67683, only
the analysis of the first drug was ready in time for the conference.
TB Drugs in development
|
Preclinical
|
Phase I
|
Phase II
|
Phase III
|
Existing drugs
‘repurposed’ for TB
|
|
Meropenem/clavulanate Linezolid
|
Rifapentine
|
Gatifloxacin
Moxifloxacin
|
New Drugs
|
TBK-613,
AZD-5847,
CPZEN-45
BTZ-043
|
SQ109
PNU100480
|
OPC67863
PA-824
TMC207
|
|
Fluoroquinolones
The repurposed drugs that are furthest along are the fluoroquinolones,
such as gatifloxacin and, especially, moxifloxacin. The fluoroquinolones are
already recommended by WHO as an essential components in MDR-TB treatment. But they are not all created equal.
Moxifloxaxin is the most potent
fluoroquinolone against TB, based on in vitro activity and animal studies,
followed by gatifloxacin, levofloxacin and
ofloxacin. An entire symposium was
devoted to whether the fluoroquinolones are
still useful after the emergence of XDR-TB.
The short answer is yes, as the more potent fluoroquinolones still appear to be
active against strains that may be resistant to ofloxacin.
However, a number of studies are underway or are being completed to
characterise just how gatifloxacin or moxifloxacin will best be used in
TB.
The Union is conducting one of these,
the Standardized Treatment Regimen of Anti-tuberculosis drugs for patients with
Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis or STREAM study. It is based on an observational study in Bangladesh in
which 9-month regimen (using gatifloxacin) achieved a relapse-free cure rate of 87.9 percent (95 percent CI 82.7, 92.6)
among 206 MDR-TB patients (Van Deun, AJRCCM 2010). The STREAM study will
compare outcomes among around 400 patients with MDR-TB randomised on a 2:1
ratio to receive a nine-month treatment regimen containing moxifloxacin
compared to the standardised GLC regimen (of 18 to 24 months of treatment). All
patients are supposed to be followed-up for 27 months post-randomisation. The end-point will be a favourable outcome, considered as culture negative
at the end of follow up (27 months); and unfavorable outcomes will be either
death or treatment failure at 6 months; relapse; change of treatment with a culture positive when last seen.
Other studies are looking to see whether gatifloxacin or
moxifloxacin can be substituted for one of the drugs in the standard regimen to
shorten duration of the first-line regimen by a couple of months (from six
months to four months). In the OFLUTUB
study, patients are randomised to a standard regimen or a regimen in which
gatifloxacin is being substituted for ethambutol, and those results should be
available this coming June. Meanwhile, the REMox study, which so far has
enrolled over 700 patients in a number of resource-contrained sites, compares
the standard first-line regimen to two moxifloxacin-based regimens (one
in which it has been substituted for isoniazid, and the other in which it has
been substituted for ethambutol).
Optimised rifamycins
With the benefit of hindsight, it now appears that the
development of the last major anti-TB drug, rifampicin, was somewhat botched.
In a conference session on the rifamycin class of drugs, Dr Eric Nuermberger of
Johns Hopkins University described how, when rifampicin was approved in the
mid-1960s, it was only at the minimally effective dose. He shared data from
mouse studies showing that with increasing concentrations of rifampicin, there
is a steep decline in bacterial loads.
“What’s very clear is a very steep and deep dose response.
It is very clear that increasing exposures is associated with increasing
activity, and the extent of this activity is very large. So the higher the
rifamycin exposure the better, and toxicity is probably the limiting factor in
how high we can go with rifamycin-based therapy. But the exposures achieved
with our current dosing strategies put us at the very low end of the dose
response curve. If one looks at the AUC/MIC in humans, we aren’t nearly getting
what we could out of the rifamycins and increases with exposure could be
associated with great increases in activity,” said Dr Nuermberger.
Accordingly, a host of studies are underway which are now
looking for the maximum tolerated dose of either rifampin or the related
rifapentine and looking to see whether use of these doses can shorten the time
to cure. Rifapentine is a drug which was once considered for intermittent dosing
(once-weekly) because of its longer half-life, but it seemed to have a higher
rate of relapse than standard treatment in people with HIV. However, the
current studies are looking at higher doses, or even at daily or nearly daily
dosing. More frequent dosing achieves drug exposures three times higher than
achieved with rifampicin. In mouse studies, these doses cut the time to cure in
half.
There are multiple studies ongoing. One compares standard TB
treatment with two doses of rifapentine/moxafloxacin (given either once or
twice weekly but for only four months) and it is specifically assessing whether
there may be a problem with relapse in people with HIV. The Pan African Consortium for the Evaluation of
anti-tuberculosis Antibiotics (PANACEA) is conducting dose-ranging studies with
standard rifampicin, aiming for a dose of 20 mg/kg. If that dose is tolerated,
they will conduct a study combining it with moxafloxacin.
Dr Susan Dornan of Johns Hopkin’s University described a
host of other studies looking at maximising the use of rifapentine. There are
two studies looking at daily rifapentine (being substituted for rifapicin),
another study in Brazil
is looking at substituting daily rifapentine for rifampicin and moxafloxacin
for ethambutol in the standard regimen. Another study in healthy individuals
will look for rifapentine’s maximal tolerated dose, and then another study will
look at the antimicrobial effect and safety of doses higher than 10 mg/kg per
day substituted for rifampicin as part of the standard intensive phase
regimens. Each of these studies will be looking for differences in cure at 8
weeks.
“It all
comes down to toxicity,” claimed Dr Martin Boeree of PANACEA, but studies from
the past have not found significantly increased toxicity. In fact, one of the
reason, the dose wasn’t pushed was because of the cost of rifampicin,
which was quite high when it was first developed.
Linezolid
A member of the oxazolidinone class of drugs, linezolid is
an antibiotic used for very difficult infections caused by vancomycin-resistant
enteroocci and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The drug has
shown activity against MDR-TB, but has a fairly significant drawback — its
toxicity. It can cause severe toxicities such as polineuropathy, bone marrow
depression and optic neuropathy.
In a retrospective analysis of German patients with M/XDR-TB
that was presented at the meeting, the drug looked somewhat underwhelming.
“Clear efficacy on treatment outcome could not be demonstrated,” said Dr
Christoph Lange, who presented the findings, although he said there was an
indication of better efficacy in a very small subset of people who were
resistant to more than seven TB drugs. However, major adverse events were very
common, so “treatment with linezolid against MDR/XDR-TB should be considered
for the most difficult to treat patients only.”
Dr Dravniece agreed with the assessment of linezolid’s
safety. “It can cause severe adverse events. Is it the most “dangerous” and
difficult drug from MDR/XDR-TB treatment? Probably. At least in my experience,
I’m quite scared of linezolid,” she said.
However, there appear to be much safer oxazolidinones (PNU100480
and AZD-5847) with
better activity against TB that are now moving into clinical development for TB
(see below). In the meantime, linezolid may represent an option for people with
life-threatening X or pre-XDR-TB.
Meropenem/clavulanate
(sensitizing MTB to beta-lactams and possible other antibiotics)
Many antibiotics such as beta-lactams (which include
penicillin) have little or no activity against MTB because the organism has an
enzyme called β-lactamase that blocks their activity. However, almost two years
ago, scientists
at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine published a paper showing that by
combining a β-lactamase inhibitor, clavulanic acid, with meropenem, a
beta-lactam antibiotic, it was possible to sterilise cultures containing
various TB strains, including XDR-TB.
And during a late-breaker at this year’s ICAAC, researchers
in Belgium reported on the
treatment of four XDR-TB patients from Chechnya with meropenem/clavulanate
and linezolid. Two responded rather promptly at one month, and three out of
four survived with good responses, with culture conversion by week 20 and
relapse free from 7 to fourteen months so far.
According to a presentation by Dr William Bishai of Johns Hopkins
University and K-Rith (a
new TB research group associated with the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine),
this may just be the tip of the ice-berg for this type of approach. He
presented preclinical data showing that it may be possible to develop
inhibitors of other mTB enzymes that make TB resistant to other antibiotics as
well.
New compounds
As already noted in a related article, a randomised trial
has now shown that TMC-207 improves outcomes when added to standard MDR-TB
treatment — the next question is how best it should be optimised in clinical
practice.
OPC-67683 is a member of the nitroimidazole class of
compounds that is being developed by Otsuka pharmceutical company. This drug
has been assessed in a phase 2 trial in 430 people with pulmonary MDR-TB (in
cases of HIV co-infection, persons with a CD4 cell count of more than 350). Two
different doses were added to optimised background therapy (OBT) and compared
to placebo plus OBT. The primary outcomes, which are currently being analysed,
are the proportion of patients with sputum conversion at 8 weeks and time to
culture conversion.
PA-824 is also a memberof the nitroimidazole class of compounds which is currently being evaluated
in dose ranging and early bactericidal activity studies (in combination with
other agents, see below).
Pfizer is developing PNU-100480, an oxazolidinone which
shows substantially improved activity over linezolid in mouse models of
tuberculosis. A phase I dose ranging study has been completed, with no
hematologic or other typical oxazolidinone safety signals, according to Dr
Leinhardt. At 600 mg BID, plasma
concentrations remain below the IC50 for inhibition of mitochondrial
protein synthesis (one of the mechanisms for linezolid’s bone marrow toxicity).
SQ109 (ethylenediamine) is a novel structure related to ethambutol
with very high potency and long half-life. The first studies of this drug are
as first line, because of its high synergy with rifampicin. However, the drug
is also synergistic with TMC-207. Early bacterical dose-ranging studies are to
be followed by a study in which SQ109 will be substituted for ethambutol in the
standard regimen.
Challenges of
clinical development
Dr Leinhardt pointed out that moving ahead with the clinical
development of so many different compounds and approaches will be complicated.
“We need to identify the best combination of drugs to improve efficacy,
decrease treatment duration, improve adherence, decrease toxicity, simplify
delivery and which is suitable in combination with ART,” he said. Potentially
though, it may be possible to develop a new combination that works ‘for all
comers’ whether drug sensitive or resistant.
According to Dr Zhenkun Ma of the Global Alliance for TB
Drug Development, one challenge is which combinations to prioritise for testing.
At present, he said, there are roughly 10 separate types of oral anti-TB drugs,
including the current TB drug classes and clofazimine, plus five broad new
classes in development (potent fluoroquinolones, TMC207, SQ109, OPC67863 and
PA-824 (both nitroimidazoles),
and the oxazolidinones
(PNU100480 and AZD-5847).
Based upon that there could be 120 potential 3-drug combinations and 210
potential four-drug combinations. “Clearly, it is not feasible to test
so many potential combinations in clinical trials, so we need a way to
prioritise selection of regimens,” he said.
He described a mouse model that GATDD is developing, looking
at which combinations of agents are most synergistic. For instance, he said
that there were very good data with PA-824 when it is combined with
moxofloxacin and pyrazinamide. So this will be tested in the clinic soon, to
see if it validates the method of preclinical selection for combinations to
test.
Other questions concern whether there really is the capacity
and funding to develop so many compounds, and whether there isn’t a way to make
the pathway to approval shorter.
“We need to shorten the pathway
to development - that is absolutely agreed,” said Dr Leinhardt. “But we have to
find the best way to shorten this pathway and find an optimal way to assess
combinations. For instance, we need suitable surrogate markers of
drug activity to shorten the duration of phase 3 trials. We need increased trials
capacity [with good quality assurance, TB infrastructure for DOT, and infection
control, good lab/drug sensitivity testing capacity etc].
There is also a need for collaboration and there is a need to reassess the
roles of respective concerned players. It is now clear that the pharmaceutical
industry can carry new agents through phase 1-2 trials but the question is who
will carry out the late stage phase 2 trials? This is a case where there is a
need for collaboration. The TB Alliance can complete the
path to drug registration.
Public sector agencies (NIH, CDC, EDCTP, MRC) can help in completing the development
of new regimens both for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB,
Public sector regulatory agencies can also provide contexts to assure
protection of new agents from rapid development of resistance,” Dr Leinhardt
concluded.
References
Nuermberger
E. Murine studies with rifamycins: the way down, and the way up. 41st Union
World Conference on Lung Health, Berlin,
2010.
Boeree
M. High-dose rifampin: potential for treatment shortening. 41st Union World
Conference on Lung Health, Berlin,
2010.
Dornan
S. Rifapentine trials: TBTC and Johns Hopkins. 41st Union World Conference on
Lung Health, Berlin,
2010.
Cegielski
P. Emergence of additional drug resistance during MDR-TB treatment in the PETTS
study. 41st Union World Conference on Lung Health, Berlin, 2010.
Dravniece,
G. Management of drug toxicity in treatment of MDR-TB. 41st Union World
Conference on Lung Health, Berlin,
2010.
Bishai
W. Beyond the quinolones: targets in Mtb that sensitise to beta-lactams and
macrolides. 41st Union World Conference on Lung Health, Berlin, 2010.
Leinhardt
C. Overview of the clinical development pipeline for drug resistant TB. 41st
Union World Conference on Lung Health, Berlin,
2010.
Zhenkun
M. Overview of the preclinical pipeline for TB drugs. 41st Union World
Conference on Lung Health, Berlin,
2010.
Lange
C. Linezolid for the treatment of MDR-TB: an analysis by the TBNET. 41st Union
World Conference on Lung Health, Berlin,
2010.