Potential Efficacy and Safety of Using Adjunctive Ibuprofen for XDR-TB Tuberculosis

Summary

Novel approaches to improve TB treatment outcomes (to reduce morbidity, mortality, and the duration of TB treatment) and to treat XDR-TB cases are urgently required. Host-Directed therapies (especially repurposed drugs such as Non-Steroid AntiInflammatory Drugs NSAIDS) could be useful in this context, and therefore the appropriateness and potential effect of this approach needs to be evaluated in humans. Investigators do propose a prospective, randomized, pilot study to estimate the potential efficacy and safety of using adjunctive ibuprofen for the treatment of XDR tuberculosis.

Timeline

Start

2016-09

Primary completion

2019-01

Completion

2019-01

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

paper Adding adjunctive ibuprofen did not improve month-2 sputum culture negativity, time to stable culture conversion, radiological evolution, or final treatment outcomes. PMID 42386760 ↗

Publications

• Fonseca KL, Farres J, Barbakadze K, Jikia I, Tsotskhalashvili M, Garcia-Illarramendi JM, Arias L, Otwombe K, Sopegno C, Despuig A, Martinson N, Buhiichyk N, Korinteli T, Layre E, Nigou J, Avaliani Z, Tukvadze N, Vashakidze S, Vilaplana C. Adjunctive ibuprofen in pre-extensively drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis: a phase IIA open-label pilot clinical trial. Nat Commun. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-75148-9. Online ahead of print.

Drugs

Indications