Johnson & Johnson to let go of patent for DR TB drug

In a ray of hope for TB patients after months of shortage of medicines Johnson amp Johnson has decided to let go its patent on bedaquiline the less toxic drug used to treat drugresistant TB patients in 134 low and middleincome countries paving the way for generic manufacturersThe move comes after decades of pressure by TB advocacy groups from countries like India on the USbased drug giant to give up its secondary patent which is intended to provide an additional layer of protection to a company Notably the companyrsquos primary patent was set to expire this year and Indiarsquos patent office had rejected its application for a secondary patent earlier this yearIn a press statement the company said ldquoThe decision is intended to assure current and future generic manufacturers that they may manufacture and sell highquality generic versions of SIRTUROreg without concern that the Company will enforce its bedaquiline patents provided the generic versions of SIRTUROreg produced or supplied by generic manufacturers are of good quality medically acceptable and are used only in the 134 low and middleincome countriesrdquoDocs want partnershipsThe decision is welcomed by TB elimination advocacy groups in the city as well as in the country As of now private medical practitioners can prescribe the medicine but patients need to visit a public facility like DOTS centres to access the drug The medicine is made available largely in public hospitals and DOTS centres ldquoHopefully the government will look at a PublicPrivate Mix PPM to make the drug widely accessiblerdquo said Dr Lancelot Pinto a pulmonologist with P D Hinduja Hospital Such a partnership has been running at the hospital for the past three yearsDr Preeti Meshram pulmonologist at JJ Hospital said ldquoPartnerships allow hospitals to provide medicines to patients living in the area surrounding a hospital There are TB treatment centres in every ward and patients can access them either in a publicprivate partnership centre or a public facilityrdquoThere are four PPM centres in Mumbai but health officials are in talks with more hospitals to expand Dr Pinto also added that JampJrsquos move is a great victory for the fight against TB ldquoHopefully it will set a precedent for patients and activists in the future every time a pharma company tries to use evergreening as a way to extend a patentrdquo said Dr PintoTB survivor and activist Ganesh Acharya took a sigh looking back at decades of struggle ldquoAffordability is a major barrier to access such lifesaving medicines Bedaquiline is much more effective with fewer side effects and one company had a monopoly over it making it expensive Now this medicine will soon be available everywhere at a low costrdquo he saidHaphazard useBMCrsquos health department head Dr Daksha Shah was instrumental in starting the medicine on an OPD basis in the city Expressing concerns over its arbitrary or haphazard use she said ldquoWe are already supplying medicines to private patients through our programme this is the most effective drug so far Now the recent development will open it up in the private market but it should be used by private practitioners with precaution in accordance with the governmentrsquos current protocolrdquoDoctors Without Borders said in a statement ldquoWe now want to see Japanese pharmaceutical corporation Otsuka follow suit and publicly announce that they will not enforce any secondary patents in low and middleincome countries for the other critical newer TB drug delamanid especially as the corporationrsquos primary patent is set to expire in 10 days in India and other countriesrdquo