Incidence of pulmonary diseases caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), relatives of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is increasing at an alarming rate, surpassing tuberculosis in many countries. Current chemotherapies require long treatment times and the clinical outcomes are often disappointing. There is an urgent medical need to discover and develop new, more-efficacious anti-NTM drugs. In this review, we summarize the current status of NTM drug development, and highlight knowledge gaps and scientific obstacles in NTM drug discovery. We propose strategies to reduce biological uncertainties and to begin to populate a NTM drug pipeline with attractive leads and drug candidates.

造成非结核分枝杆菌（NTM）肺部疾病的发生率，亲属结核杆菌，正以惊人的速度增加，在许多国家，超过肺结核。当前的化学疗法需要较长的治疗时间，并且临床结果通常令人失望。迫切需要发现和开发新的，更有效的抗NTM药物。在这篇综述中，我们总结了NTM药物开发的当前状况，并强调了NTM药物发现中的知识空白和科学障碍。我们提出了减少生物学不确定性的策略，并开始使用具有吸引力的潜在客户和候选药物填充NTM药品管道。