AIPH-TB: AI-Optimised Pyrazinamide-Hydroxychloroquine vs Standard RIPE for Drug-Sensitive Pulmonary Tuberculosis - A Phase II RCT

Summary

Tuberculosis (TB) kills 1.3 million people annually and remains the world's deadliest bacterial disease. The standard four-drug RIPE regimen achieves only 85% cure rates and causes drug-induced hepatotoxicity in 25-37% of patients. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an FDA-approved antimalarial, has been shown to synergise with pyrazinamide (PZA) by inhibiting the BCRP-1 efflux pump and raising phagolysosomal pH, increasing intracellular PZA concentrations (FICI 0.38 in vitro). The AIPH-TB computational framework (Artificial Intelligence Physicochemical Harmonisation for Tuberculosis) uses multi-objective reinforcement learning, Gaussian process regression, and a digital twin macrophage simulator to identify an AI-optimised dosing schedule that maximises this synergy (PZA 1,500 mg + HCQ 200 mg at 0800 and HCQ 200 mg at 2000), maintaining phagolysosomal pH within 5.2-5.8 for 18 of 24 hours. The computational model predicts FICI 0.28 (strongly synergistic), 9.4-fold increase in intracellular PZA concentration, 99.5% cure rate, and \<1.5% hepatotoxicity. This Phase II randomised controlled trial will test whether the AI-optimised PYZ-HCQ protocol is superior to standard RIPE in 200 newly-diagnosed drug-sensitive pulmonary TB patients over 6 months of treatment with 6 months of follow-up.

Timeline

Start

2026-09

Primary completion

2027-12

Completion

2028-06

Publications

• Background Crowle AJ, May MH. Inhibition of tubercle bacilli in cultured human macrophages by chloroquine used alone and in combination with streptomycin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and two metabolites of vitamin D3. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1990 Nov;34(11):2217-22. doi: 10.1128/AAC.34.11.2217.
• Background Zhang Y, Shi W, Zhang W, Mitchison D. Mechanisms of Pyrazinamide Action and Resistance. Microbiol Spectr. 2014 Aug;2(4):MGM2-0023-2013. doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.MGM2-0023-2013.
• Background Zhang N, Savic RM, Boeree MJ, Peloquin CA, Weiner M, Heinrich N, Bliven-Sizemore E, Phillips PPJ, Hoelscher M, Whitworth W, Morlock G, Posey J, Stout JE, Mac Kenzie W, Aarnoutse R, Dooley KE; Tuberculosis Trials Consortium (TBTC) and Pan African Consortium for the Evaluation of Antituberculosis Antibiotics (PanACEA) Networks. Optimising pyrazinamide for the treatment of tuberculosis. Eur Respir J. 2021 Jul 20;58(1):2002013. doi: 10.1183/13993003.02013-2020. Print 2021 Jul.

Drugs

Indications