BPaLM regimen
Also called: BPaLM · Topic: Human Capital: Education, Health and Demographic Dividend · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The BPaLM regimen is a six-month treatment for drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). DR-TB is tuberculosis that the usual first-line TB medicines can no longer kill. The name comes from its four medicines: Bedaquiline, Pretomanid, Linezolid and Moxifloxacin. All four are taken as tablets, with no injections. Older DR-TB treatment took much longer, and every extra month raises the chance that a patient stops treatment. A shorter course keeps more patients on treatment until they are cured. That protects their health, their ability to work and their family's income.
Example
Under India's National TB Elimination Programme, more than 15,000 patients with MDR/RR-TB had been started on BPaLM by March 2026. MDR/RR-TB means TB that rifampicin, the main first-line drug, does not cure, sometimes along with other drugs. The six months only help if the patient is followed up for the full course. That is why proper monitoring committees for DR-TB patients matter.
Don't confuse with
- BPaL: the same regimen without moxifloxacin, so it has three drugs. It is used when the TB germ also resists moxifloxacin and its drug group (fluoroquinolones).
- Treatment for drug-susceptible TB: the standard first-line treatment for ordinary TB, meaning TB that the usual drugs still cure. BPaLM is only for drug-resistant cases.