India, Nov. 19 -- A new tuberculosis treatment may cut months off recovery time and push cure rates even higher. This is as per new findings by the World Health Organization's annual report on tuberculosis, launched last week. The trial results land at a tense moment. The World Health Organization has recently warned that TB still kills over 1.2 million people a year and remains a "major global public-health problem," even as funding tightens and progress slips behind targets.

Researchers working with the TB Alliance say their latest antibiotic, sorfequiline, showed stronger action against TB bacteria than the drugs routinely used today - without raising fresh safety concerns. The results were presented at the Union Conference on Lung He...