A pioneering new clinical trial aiming to find a radically improved course of treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) began on 17^th January 2017, when the first patient took the first pill in Uzbekistan.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urges Johnson & Johnson to ensure widespread access to bedaquiline for the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB.

Geneva, 16 December 2016

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expressed concerns about the Global Fund’s policies on allocation, co-financing, and transition.

Delamanid is one of the first new TB medicines in over 50 years, and recently the project team in Dushanbe, Tajikistan's capital, started treating a young TB patient with it. It follows several months of preparations and negotiations with the Ministry of Health and its counterparts.

Two new drugs, bedaquiline and delamanid, are proving to be the very last life-line for TB patients with the most extreme forms of drug resistance. While a few patients benefit from these new drugs in India, many die before being able to access them as they are not widely available.

Access to the new TB drugs remains severely limited worldwide, but MSF hopes its experience can inform and encourage wider use, while needed clinical research continue.

An article published in the Better India describes what Médecins Sans Frontières does for patients with extremely drug-resistant TB in India. The article is about one of those patients in Mumbai. Click here to read it and watch a short video.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) would like to urge WIPO and its member states to tackle the on-going challenges of spiralling drug prices and neglect of public health priorities in the IP-driven medical innovation system.

New MSF report exposes pharma industry failings and highlights new ways of researching and developing medicines that address public health needs.