Dissolve and Deliver A Point-of-Care Method for Converting TB Drug Tablets Into Drinkable Homogeneous Suspensions

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development has patented a practical method for converting solid drug tablets into homogeneous liquid suspensions at the point of care – using a simple flexible container system that allows healthcare workers or patients to mix, disperse and dose tuberculosis medicines in settings where standard pharmaceutical liquid formulations are unavailable or impractical. The invention addresses a critical gap in TB treatment delivery, particularly for paediatric patients and those who cannot swallow tablets.

The Problem

Tuberculosis treatment requires long courses of multiple drugs taken daily – a demanding regimen even for adult patients with access to good healthcare. For children and patients with swallowing difficulties, the requirement to take solid tablet forms of TB medicines creates an immediate practical barrier. Many TB drugs are not available in paediatric liquid formulations, and where they do exist, the formulations may be expensive, require refrigeration or have limited shelf lives that make them impractical in the resource-limited settings where TB is most prevalent.

a common workaround is for healthcare workers to crush tablets and mix them with liquid at the point of care – but this is an imprecise process that can result in uneven distribution of the drug in the mixture, dosing inaccuracies and particle loss. Without a controlled mixing process, the resulting suspension may not be homogeneous – meaning some doses contain more drug than others, with serious implications for treatment efficacy and the development of drug resistance.

What is needed is a simple, reliable method for preparing homogeneous liquid doses from solid tablet forms that can be implemented at the point of care without laboratory equipment, specialised training or cold chain infrastructure.

What This Invention Does

The TB Alliance’s invention describes a method using a container with at least one flexible section. The solid dosage form – a tablet or capsule containing the drug – is placed into the container along with a specified amount of liquid. The flexible section of the container allows the user to mechanically mix the contents, applying force through the container wall to disperse, disintegrate, suspend and dissolve the solid dosage form until a homogeneous mixture is achieved.

The flexible wall mixing approach allows for effective agitation without opening the container – maintaining a closed, contamination-controlled system throughout the preparation process. This is particularly important for TB drugs, which may have occupational safety implications if released into the air during crushing or mixing.

The resulting homogeneous mixture can be drawn up in a syringe or poured for administration – giving healthcare workers and caregivers a reliable, reproducible dosing preparation method that can be used at the bedside, in a clinic or in a community healthcare setting.

Key Features

Flexible container mixing mechanism. The flexible section of the container allows the user to agitate and mix the contents externally without opening the container, achieving thorough dispersion while maintaining a closed system.

Closed-system preparation. Because mixing occurs inside the sealed container, the method avoids the contamination risks and occupational exposure concerns associated with open crushing and mixing of drug tablets.

Point-of-care applicability. The method requires no laboratory equipment, refrigeration or specialised pharmaceutical infrastructure – making it practical for use in the community health settings and lower-resource environments where TB predominantly occurs.

Homogeneous mixture outcome. The combination of flexible container mechanics and controlled liquid addition is designed to achieve a homogeneous suspension – ensuring consistent drug concentration throughout the mixture and reproducible dosing.

Paediatric dosing enablement. By enabling reliable preparation of liquid doses from solid tablet forms, the method directly addresses the practical barrier to TB treatment in children, who represent a significant and historically under-served component of the global TB burden.

Who Is Behind It?

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, Inc. (TB Alliance) is a non-profit organisation that has driven the development of new TB drugs including pretomanid and delamanid. The inventors are Rajneesh Taneja and Joseph Anthony Scarim. This application is a divisional of AU 2021337526, with priority to US provisional applications filed in September 2020 and March 2021. The application is managed by Griffith Hack in Melbourne.

Why It Matters

Children account for a substantial share of the global TB burden – approximately one million children develop TB each year – yet paediatric TB – yet paediatric-appropriate TB formulations have historically been severely lacking. The TB Alliance and partners have made closing this gap a priority, and practical delivery innovations like this flexible container mixing method are an important part of the solution.

Beyond TB, the method has potential applicability to any solid drug that needs to be converted to a liquid form at the point of care – a capability that is valuable across a wide range of medicines used in resource-limited settings. With IPC classifications covering pharmaceutical preparation equipment (A61J 3/00) and fluid mixing methods (B01F 23/50, B01F 21/00, B01F 31/55), the patent covers a simple but impactful innovation in medication preparation technology.

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AU 2026201554 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 19 March 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.

Related Concepts

Tuberculosis is one of the world’s leading infectious disease killers, with an estimated 1.3 million deaths annually. Treatment requires daily multi-drug regimens for months, creating significant challenges for children and patients in resource-limited settings where liquid formulations are unavailable or impractical.

Point-of-care drug preparation – converting solid tablets into administrable liquid doses without laboratory equipment – is a critical capability in low-resource environments. The TB Alliance has prioritised child-friendly formulations as part of its mission to close the gap in drug-resistant TB treatment access globally.