Tuberculosis is very much rampant in our society and accounts for a large number 
of deaths annually. In spite of consistent efforts being made, the disease has 
not been curtailed yet. The emergence of MDR and XDR strains in the society 
along with an increase in the number of HIV cases and that of latent TB, have 
further aggravated the problem making the disease very much persistent. The 
current situation clearly manifests the need to discover and develop new potent 
molecules/approaches that could help to tackle drug resistance. Various 
molecules, such as derivatives of fluoroquinolones (e.g. gatifloxacin, 
moxifloxacin and DC-159a), rifamycins (rifapentine), oxazolidinones (linezolid, 
sutezolid/PNU-100480), diarylquinolines (TMC207/bedaquiline), antifungal azoles, 
pyrrole (LL3858), nitroimidazopyran (PA824), nitroimidazole (OPC67683, TBA-354), 
diamine (SQ109) and benzothiazinone (BTZ043) are being developed in an attempt 
to combat the disease. This review presents a general introduction to the 
current status of the disease, the biology of the pathogen as well as the state 
of drug development against tuberculosis (TB) with emphasis on the major 
problems and bottlenecks associated with the same. Starting from the first drug 
against TB, the review discusses the entire history and the course of 
development of the drugs which are available today in the market as well as 
those which are under various phases of clinical and pre-clinical trials along 
with their mechanism of action. It also talks about the possible role of 
nanosciences in combating TB.