Bayer Healthcare said it will test its new antibiotic moxifloxacin as a treatment for tuberculosis. Bayer is prepared to sell the antibiotic at a deep discount in the Third World if it helps shorten the treatment period. That would be a big leap forward for patients. No new tuberculosis treatment has been approved in 40 years. Although the disease kills 5,000 people per day, drug makers have been slow to develop new treatments for the poor. Moxifloxacin--sold in the US as Avelox--garners about $500 million per year in sales.
- read this article in The New York Times