Researchers and doctors at the Hinduja hospital have partnered with their peers across eight nations to understand the variation in the genome sequence of the TB bacteria. With every one in five TB patients resistant to at least one major drug, the study will help understand the resistance towards various drugs better and will go a long way in personalising medicine for patients in the future. Currently, all the patients are given standard drugs depending on their weight despite signs of drug resistance, proving to be a major hindrance.

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The study began in January this year, and is funded by the Gates Foundation and the Welcome Trust. Samples of around 6,000 Indian TB patients will be studied as a part of it. “We understand the gene mutations to a certain extent but we don’t know everything about it yet,” said Dr Camila Rodrigues, Consultant Microbiologist and Chairperson — Infection Control Committee at the hospital.  Nontraditional drugs like those used in the treatment of cancer and leprosy are used as ‘salvage drugs’ by doctors to treat group-5 TB patients as a last option. 

The samples from Hinduja are being sent to the Foundation of Medical Research headed by Dr Narges Mistry while the genotyping is being done by a Bengaluru-based company Genotypics.  

“Our main priority is to look at drug resistance in TB. It is more of a research project that will help us create a bank of data,” Dr Rodrigues explained.