Janssen Research and Development has forwarded a new drug application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a bid to gain approval for the investigational drug bedaquiline.
The clinical research specialist is hoping for the medicine to be used as an oral treatment as part of combination therapy for pulmonary, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
If the drug is consented, it will be the first to have a new mechanism of action for TB in over 40 years, while existing as the only substance designated for MDR-TB.
Paul Stoffels, worldwide chairman of pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson, which owns Jannsen, said: "The emergence of multi-drug resistant strains of TB is a growing problem that impacts people around the world and is posing a significant new treatment challenge in controlling this serious and deadly disease."
Janssen's application comes after it submitted a marketing authorisation application to the European Medicines Agency for the use of canagliflozin.
It is hoped that the medicine will act as effective treatment for adults with type 2 diabetes.