WHO SETS NEW GLOBAL TARGETS FOR LONG-ACTING INJECTABLE TREATMENTS TO TRANSFORM TUBERCULOSIS CARE
October 31, 2026
GENEVA, OCTOBER 31: The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new Target Regimen Profiles (TRPs) for long-acting injectable medicines designed to improve the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis (TB), outlining key scientific and operational requirements for the development of future therapies.
Announced on October 28, the initiative seeks to address one of the longstanding challenges in tuberculosis management: the difficulty of maintaining adherence to daily oral medication over several months. Long-acting injectable (LAI) formulations could reduce the frequency of medication administration, lessen the treatment burden on patients and simplify the delivery of TB services through healthcare systems.
The WHO profiles establish two distinct development targets. For tuberculosis preventive treatment, the organisation envisages a complete treatment course administered through a single injection during one healthcare encounter. For active TB disease, the target is a treatment regimen lasting no more than four months, requiring no more than three dosing encounters.
The proposed formulations are expected to meet stringent requirements concerning safety, effectiveness, accessibility and practical administration. WHO recommends that injections should be deliverable by trained healthcare workers at the lowest feasible level of the health system, with small injection volumes and no requirement for a cold chain. Their efficacy and safety must be at least comparable to existing oral treatment regimens.
The profiles are intended to guide pharmaceutical companies, academic researchers, research institutions, product-development partnerships, national tuberculosis programmes, civil society organisations and international donors. They establish both minimum requirements that a prospective treatment must satisfy and optimal targets representing desirable but realistically achievable characteristics.
WHO developed the profiles through a scientific consultation process involving clinical researchers, pharmacologists, regulatory experts, national TB programme representatives, civil society organisations and people with lived experience of tuberculosis. The process incorporated scientific landscape assessments, public consultations, community surveys, healthcare-provider discussions and research into patient preferences.
Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO's Department for HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections, said that long-acting injectables could make TB prevention and treatment considerably simpler, provided that improvements in convenience do not compromise treatment effectiveness, safety or patient choice.
The organisation has emphasised that long-acting injectable research must proceed alongside the development of improved oral treatments, ensuring that patients who prefer non-injectable medication retain access to appropriate alternatives.
Several long-acting injectable candidates for tuberculosis are entering or approaching clinical development. However, the newly published profiles are development benchmarks rather than announcements of approved medicines or immediately available treatments. Their purpose is to guide research towards formulations capable of reducing treatment burden while maintaining clinical standards.
The initiative represents an important step in the global effort to improve tuberculosis prevention, treatment adherence and equitable access to future therapies, particularly in countries where the disease continues to impose a substantial public-health burden.
