Rapid Point-of-Care Tests to Simultaneously Quantify Anti-TB Drugs in Blood

TuberculosisTBis currently the leading infectious cause of death worldwideTB treatment includes multiple different combinations of antibioticsdosesand long time periodsThe current standard includes an intensive phase ofmonthsfollowed by a continuation phase of eitherormonthsHowevertreatment outcome can be poor due to drug drug interactionsimpaired medication adherencedrug absorption and metabolism variationand drug resistanceVariability of oral TB drug absorption is widely reported and influenced by many factors suchMoreovertherapy is often modified due to factors such as identification of antibiotic resistancedrug induced toxicityTherapeutic drug monitoringTDMremains a valuable clinical tool for using plasma drug concentrations to determine dosecorrect sub optimal drug concentrations and achieve optimal outcomeCurrent standard TB drug monitoring is based on liquid or gas chromatography that has to be done in highly specialized laboratoriestime consuming and require analysis of multiple samples at the same time to reduce costs per sampleConsequentlythese methods make regular monitoring of antibiotic concentrations essentially impracticalZymeron develops a POC assay for the determination of antibiotic concentrations at the point of care allowing clinicians to monitor antibioticsreal timeand allow immediate dose adjustments