Four Months Moxifloxacin Containing Daily Regimen Study Among New Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

The 4-month daily regimen containing moxifloxacin (2HRZEM 7 / 2HRM7) of ICMR-NIRT was studied in 321 sputum positive pulmonary TB patients in a randomised clinical trial. Of the 321, there were 96% with sputum smear grading of 2+/3+ and 80% with \>2 zone involvement in the chest radiograph, The sputum culture conversion at the end of intensive phase was 94%, favourable response at the end of treatment of 92% and the TB recurrence rate was 4.1%. The regimen was safe and well tolerated. The advantages of a 33% reduction in treatment duration are manifold in terms of financial and other administrative implications. As the next logical step investigators believe that the effectiveness of this shortened regimen that proved successful in our study needs to be tested in the field. Under NTEP the anti-TB drugs are offered as Fixed dose Combination (FDC).3 The HREZ intensive phase and HRE continuation phase FDC are administered to patients based on body weight category. If our proposed study proves successful, the addition of moxifloxacin tablet to the FDC of anti-TB drugs in the intensive and continuation phases of treatment would be feasible under TB program settings. Investigators propose to evaluate 4-month moxifloxacin containing daily regimen \[2 months of HRZEM daily / 2 months of HREM daily (2 HRZEM 7 / 2HREM7)\] in the treatment of newly diagnosed sputum smear positive pulmonary TB patients.