Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases. The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB strains, which are resistant to first line and even second line therapies, remains a challenge in treating TB. The disease is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), which has the remarkable ability to adapt to hostile environments within the human host. In doing so, it can enter a “persister-like” state, characterized by reduced metabolic activity and increased tolerance to antibiotics. This phenotypic drug tolerance is hypothesized to be a major contributor to the prolonged treatment regimens required to cure TB.

As a result, effective treatment must target not only actively replicating bacteria but also those residing in diverse microenvironments such as caseum, intracellular compartments, and lipid-rich foamy macrophages.

To address this complexity, Evotec utilizes a suite of in vitro assays that have been developed to mimic these distinct TB niches, with the metabolic conditions and stressors encountered by M.tb in its host. While in vitro systems cannot fully replicate the complexity of human pathology, they offer valuable, controlled platforms to explore M.tb biology and assess compound activity in physiologically relevant contexts.

These models support drug discovery efforts by enabling the evaluation of compound activity in conditions that better reflect the in vivo behavior of M.tb. All assays are developed and executed within Evotec’s quality framework, demonstrating the reproducibility and scalability required to make data-driven decisions.

Our in vitro models are designed to support TB drug discovery by offering physiologically relevant platforms coupled with industrial quality and scale. Contact us to learn more or to explore custom assay development.

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