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TB drugs policy to be discussed at meet
Context:
Global public health agencies will discuss the Union Health Ministry’s policy on rationing new tuberculosis medicines at a forthcoming meeting in New Delhi.
Inadequacy of medicines:
- The Hindu had earlier reported that advanced patented medicines used to treat Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB) are available to only about 1,000 patients out of the tens of thousands who need it
- Bedaquiline and Delaminid, the new-generation drugs, are recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for DR-TB patients.
- It is five years since Bedaquiline became available, but India has fewer than 1,000 patients on it.
- According to the Union Health Ministry, only 81 patients have access to Delaminid
- Nearly 1.3 lakh DR-TB patients need treatment but the Health Ministry has only 10,000 doses of Bedaquiline and 400 doses of Delaminid, obtained as ‘donations’ from Janssen (US) and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (Japan), the respective manufacturers.
- On September 19, 2017, a panel chaired by Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, then Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research and currently the Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended, among other steps, that the Health Ministry consider issuing a compulsory licence (CL) for the two TB drugs.
- The Union Health Ministry told The Hindu that it had requested Janssen and Otsuka, to grant Voluntary Licenses (VL) to Indian manufacturers.
- However, both companies turned down the Health Ministry’s request.
- But with the option of compulsory licence ruled out, and the companies that manufacture Bedaquiline and Delaminid refusing to issue VLs, the price at which the drugs will be sold are to be decided in meetings between officials of the TB programme and pharmaceutical companies
‘End TB’ Summit
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the March 12-17 ‘End TB Summit’ in the Delhi.
- The conference, hosted by the government, The Stop TB Partnership and the World Health Organisation (WHO) will discuss commitments from global heads of state ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on TB in September.
