Drug showed promise in clearing drug-resistant tuberculosis

CHICAGO (Reuters) – An antibiotic used to treat severe bacterial infections showed promise at treating a highly drug-resistant and deadly form of tuberculosis, U.S. government and South Korean researchers said on Wednesday. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the first scientifically rigorous clinical trial of Pfizer’s antibiotic linezolid, or Zyvox, in patients with extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), which is resistant to at least four of the drugs most often used to treat the lung infection. …