J&J slashes price of TB drug, but not enough says MSF

6 July 2020

US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) today announced a reduced price of $1.50 per day, or $340 per six-month treatment course, for the tuberculosis (TB) drug bedaquiline.

This is an important step that should allow more people with drug-resistant forms of TB (DR-TB) to access this lifesaving drug. However, the price should come down further and be extended to more countries, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today.

J&J’s bedaquiline, marketed under the brand name Sirturo, will be available at the reduced price to more than 135 eligible countries, through the United Nations-hosted Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility (GDF), created in 2001 to negotiate lower prices for treatments.

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