Bortezomib Emerges as a Promising Candidate for Treating Tuberculosis
Posted 3 March 2026
Scientists in SPRINT-TB Theme 1 have found that bortezomib (sold as Velcade®, an approved multiple myeloma treatment) acts as a new whole-cell active inhibitor of the mycobacterial caseinolytic protease (Clp). Clp is a key degradative proteolytic system that helps mycobacteria keep their proteome in balance. Bortezomib and its derivatives were shown to strongly inhibit Clp, and this was followed by a halt in mycobacterial growth.
The discovery confirmed Clp as a newly validated drug target and made bortezomib an attractive lead compound for creating new tuberculosis medicines. Bortezomib and its derivatives are now being studied further in pre-clinical work. A provisional patent application for the repurposed use of bortezomib was filed on 6 February 2015.
The invention came out of a collaboration between Eric Rubin's group at the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), the Experimental Therapeutic Center at A*STAR (Singapore), and Thomas Dick's group in the Department of Microbiology at the National University of Singapore (Singapore).
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The SPRINT-TB blog archive gathers news from across our research themes, from target discovery to treatment delivery. Each entry highlights findings, collaborations and milestones from the teams working to advance tuberculosis drug development. Browse the archive by month or category to follow the programme's progress.