Old Parkinson’s Medication Shows Potential in Combating Tuberculosis

Recent research from the University of British Columbia suggests that benztropine, a medication developed in the 1950s to manage Parkinson's disease symptoms, could be repurposed as a treatment against tuberculosis (TB). The study highlights that this drug, already approved for human use, can significantly help the immune system fight TB bacteria.

Tuberculosis remains one of the world's leading infectious killers, causing over 1.3 million deaths annually, mainly by attacking the lungs. Standard treatments involve lengthy courses of antibiotics, which often come with severe side effects and face mounting resistance due to the bacteria's ability to develop drug resistance. This underscores the emergency for innovative approaches in TB treatment.

In the research, the team screened over 240 FDA-approved drugs, testing each on immune cells infected with TB. Benztropine stood out as a promising candidate, substantially reducing bacterial levels in experiments involving human and mouse immune cells. Notably, in mouse models infected with TB, oral administration of benztropine resulted in a 70% decline in bacterial burden in the lungs, comparable to some existing treatment options.

Unlike antibiotics that directly target bacteria, benztropine works by enhancing the host's immune response. It functions by blocking a specific receptor on macrophages—the immune cells responsible for engulfing bacteria—that TB bacteria typically exploit to survive. This mechanism allows immune cells to better eradicate the bacteria.

Lead researcher Dr. Yossef Av-Gay emphasized that treatments boosting the body’s natural defenses, known as host-directed therapies, could be powerful tools in TB combat. Because benztropine has already demonstrated safety in Parkinson's patients, speeding up its clinical testing for TB is a feasible next step.

The findings suggest that repurposing existing drugs like benztropine could accelerate the development of effective host-directed therapies, which are less likely to promote drug resistance and can be used alongside current antibiotics, especially in resistant cases. This research opens new avenues for potentially more effective and shorter treatments for TB and other infectious diseases.

Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-seventy-year-parkinson-drug-tuberculosis.html