Editorial: Tuberculosis Drug Discovery & Development: Drug Targets, Chemical Matter, and Approaches

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent ranking it above all other contagious diseases. About one-third of the world's population is carrying Mtb and are at high risk of developing active TB, signifying the severity and widespread of this disease. The problem to tackle this disease appears to become even worse due to the recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. Further, the global number of TB cases are continuously rising which are fueled by poverty, HIV/AIDS, the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extremely drug-resistant (XDR) strains of Mtb. Additionally, the drug-drug interaction issue with antiretrovirals and antidiabetics is a growing concern. The expanding threat of drug resistance has prompted urgent calls for new approaches to TB control, including the implementation of new modes of drug-susceptibility testing, use of alternative (shorter) therapeutic regimens aimed at expediting diagnosis and treatment, and most importantly to discover compounds (and regimens) with novel mechanisms of action (MoAs) The Research Topic aimed to address the current knowledge, research trends, and the future directions of TB drug discovery and development.