WHO sets a one-shot target for TB prevention

WHO has published target regimen profiles for long-acting injectables for tuberculosis prevention and treatment, defining minimum and optimal standards for candidates entering or approaching clinical development. The prevention target is a full course delivered as one injection at one encounter. The disease-treatment target is a regimen no longer than four months across three or fewer dosing encounters. Both should be deliverable at the lowest feasible level of the health system, use small injection volumes, avoid cold-chain dependence and match or exceed the efficacy and safety of current oral regimens. The profiles also require trial design to consider total treatment burden, scalability, equitable access, transparent pricing and cost. Long-acting products could shift part of daily adherence pressure from patients to health systems, but concentrate supply, injection capacity, prolonged adverse effects and resistance monitoring into fewer contacts. This is a research target, not an approved therapy; candidates still need trials for efficacy, safety, reversibility, pregnancy and paediatric use and real-world delivery.