When a drug giant ties up with a non-profit

J&J's pact with Stop TB Partnership to supply generic versions of bedaquiline promises hope, but falls short in many ways

- LATHA JISHNU

PUBLIC PRESSURE across the world may have prompted one of the world's biggest pharma multinationals to enter into an agreement with a non-profit organisation that will source and supply generic versions of its topline tuberculosis (TB) drug in dozens of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) fighting this disease that kills two million people annually. It is a new kind of pact that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has finally concluded with the UN-backed Stop TB Partnership, whose Global Drug Facility (GDF) purchases and makes TB drugs available at more affordable rates to a host of countries struggling with a heavy load of TB.

This is a significant development, because J&J's bedaquiline-it is on the World Health Organization (WHO)'s list of essential medicines combats the lethal multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB), which afflicts more of the poor and those with HIV than others. Over the past two years, close to half a million new cases have been registered annually. So there was a celebration of sorts when the deal was announced on July 13, allowing GDF “to tender, procure, and supply generic versions of SIRTURO® (bedaquiline) for the majority of lowand middle-income countries, including countries where patents remain in effect." But, this deal is not the best way to fight the scourge of TB, because it excludes far too many countries.