Long-term outcome and safety of prolonged bedaquiline treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Bedaquiline, a recently approved drug for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), is recommended for a duration of 24 weeks. There are scarce data on patients treated with this drug outside clinical trials. All MDR-TB patients who started treatment from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2013 and received. >= 30 days of bedaquiline were included in a multicentre observational cohort. Among 45 MDR-TB patients, 53% harboured isolates resistant to both fluoroquinolones and secondline injectables, and 38% harboured isolates resistant to one of these drug classes. Median bedaquiline treatment duration was 361 days and 33 patients (73%) received prolonged (> 190 days) bedaquiline treatment. Overall, 36 patients (80%) had favourable outcome, five were lost to follow-up, three died, and one failed and acquired bedaquiline resistance. No cases of recurrence were reported. Severe and serious adverse events were recorded in 60% and 18% of patients, respectively. Values of Fridericia-corrected QT interval (QTcF) > 500 ms were recorded in 11% of patients, but neither arrhythmias nor symptomatic cardiac side-effects occurred. Bedaquiline was discontinued in three patients following QTcF prolongation. No significant differences in outcomes or adverse events rates were observed between patients receiving standard and prolonged bedaquiline treatment. Bedaquiline-containing regimens achieved favourable outcomes in a large proportion of patients. Prolonged bedaquiline treatment was overall well tolerated in this cohort.