THERE WAS a triumphal note as media across the country reported the rejection of Johnson & Johnson's claim for a secondary patent on its tuberculosis drug bedaquiline. It was big news in March when the Indian Patent Office rejected the claim, because bedaquiline is the most efficacious in treating life-threatening cases of drug-resistant TB. It is a medicine that is taken orally, has fewer of the lethal side effects of the older line of drugs and is desperately sought by patients. As a country that is burdened with the largest number of TB cases, and carries an additional load of more than a quarter of the world's drug-resistant cases, India badly needs access to generics medicines that are FEAT inexpensive and available in sufficient quantities. Bedaquiline, a patented medicine made by J&Jowned Janssen Pharmaceuticals, is neither. It is costly and hard to come by.
The original patent on bedaquiline expires in July this year, but J&J had sought to extend its monopoly with a patent for a fumarate salt version of the TB medicine. The claim was opposed in 2019 by two TB patient-activists, Nandita Venkatesan of Mumbai and Phumeza Tisile of South Africa, who were supported by humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières. The Patent Office upheld their challenge since India's law, specifically Section 3d, does not permit the patenting of incremental improvements on an existing drug unless there is proven improvement in efficacy. The rejection of the secondary patent on bedaquiline means the original patent expiry term stands, allowing generic versions to come into the market in a few months' time. The generic drugs are expected to cut costs as they generally do. J&J charges 27,000 for the prescribed six-month treatment.
There is hope, too, of supplies increasing significantly in the near future as reports talk of some companies launching their generic versions as early as August.
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In leading role again
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One Nation One Subscription comes at a huge cost
As top US universities scrap big deals with top scientific publishers, India’s ONOS scheme seems flawed and outdated
Return of Rambhog
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Natural springs of Kashmir drying up due to illegal riverbed mining
Human-to-human spread a mutation away
CANADA IN mid-November confirmed its first human case of avian influenza, with a teenager in the British Columbia being hospitalised after contracting the H5N1 virus that causes the disease. The patient developed a severe form of the disease, also called bird flu, and had respiratory issues. There was no known cause of transmission.
True rehabilitation
Residents of Madhya Pradesh's Kakdi village take relocation as an opportunity to undertake afforestation, develop sustainable practices
INESCAPABLE THREAT
Chemical pollution is the most underrated and underreported risk of the 21st century that threatens all species and regions
THAT NIGHT, 40 YEARS AGO
Bhopal gas disaster is a tragedy that people continue to face
A JOKE, INDEED
A CONFERENCE OF IRRESPONSIBLE PARTIES THAT CREATED AN OPTICAL ILLUSION TO THE REALITY OF A NEW CLIMATE
THINGS FALL APART
THE WORLD HAS MADE PROGRESS IN MITIGATING EMISSIONS AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE IMPACTS. BUT THE PROGRESS REMAINS GROSSLY INADEQUATE
