BIOAVAILABILITY ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES OF ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS DRUGS - A REVIEW

Richa Srivastava, Neha Mathur *, Nikhat Fatima

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the widespread, fatal diseases caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex affecting human population. However, infection by the organism does not necessarily lead to disease and only 5-10% of these individuals will progress to active disease each year (WHO 2007). 10% people infected with TB bacteria have a lifetime risk of falling ill with TB. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally there were 9.4 million cases of active TB leading to 1.3 million deaths. However, lives can also be saved with effective diagnosis and treatment. This review focuses firstly on the occurrence and prevalence of this disease, secondly, on ways of its diagnosis and treatment, thirdly on the new tuberculosis drugs under development and lastly on the various bioavailability enhancement approaches which are under process so that the problem of poor/variable bioavailability of drugs, in particular, in fixed dose combinations (FDC’s) or due to their enhanced decomposition in stomach acidic conditions etc can be minimized.