Effectiveness and Safety of Tauractant in the Treatment of Drug-Resistant Respiratory Tuberculosis

The objective: to evaluate effectiveness and safety of inhaled highly purified tauractant as a pathogenetic agent in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis with multiple, pre-extensively and extensively drug resistance.

Subjects and Methods. 104 patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis were included in the study, 29 of them were HIV-positive. Patients received chemotherapy (CT) according to the regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR, pre-MDR, and MDR) based on the individual drug susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Tauractant was administered by inhalation in the form of a lyophilisate for the emulsion preparation. The patients were randomized into 2 groups: In CT+ST Group (n=52), surfactant therapy was prescribed in addition to chemotherapy, using tauractant in the form of Surfactant BL (Russia) at a dose of 25 mg according to the regimen [5], in CT Group (n=52), only chemotherapy was administered.

Results. By the end of 2 months of chemotherapy, respiratory symptoms resolved in 35/39 (89.7%) patients in CT+ST Group, and in 22/33 (66.7%) in CT Group (p<0.05). Positive X-ray changes were observed in 39/52 (75.0%) patients in CT+ST Group and in 28/52 (53.8%) patients in CT Group, (p<0.05), and healing of cavities was observed in 9/30 (30.0%) and 2/33 (6.1%) (p<0.05) patients, respectively. The trend toward faster sputum conversion (by culture) and healing of cavities persisted throughout the study period in CT+ST Group versus CT Group. In the patients from cavernous and fibrous cavernous tuberculosis subgroup of CT+ST Group, cavities healed more frequently (size up to 3 cm) by week 8 of treatment versus the same subgroup of CT Group. No serious adverse reactions were observed during the study, and no connection between adverse reactions and the use of tauractant was established.

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