Should gatifloxacin be included in the model list of essential medicines?

We read with great interest the paper by Falzon et al. [1], which reported that gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin have been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for both longer and shortened regimens in the treatment of rifampicin-resistant (RR) and multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB). Gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin belong to the latest generation of fluoroquinolones that have comparable early bactericidal and sterilising activity in the treatment of TB. Gatifloxacin has been used in the treatment of bacterial infections and MDR-TB [2]. Gatifloxacin was also used in a clinical trial (OFLOTUB) comparing a 4-month gatifloxacin-based regimen with the standard 6-month regimen for the treatment of rifampicin-susceptible pulmonary TB [3]. The gatifloxacin-based shortened treatment was highly effective, achieving >84% treatment success among MDR-TB patients in Bangladesh, Cameroon and Niger [2].