Dr. Edward Nardell of Harvard Medical School was sitting in his office one day when a student called to ask if he had any advice on how to avoid contracting drug-resistant tuberculosis.

A little more than four months ago, a collection of organizations and individuals concerned with the high price of rifapentine, a drug that could treat tuberculosis more quickly than other drugs, and also treat TB infection before it caused illness, wrote to Sanofi, the company that makes medicine. Noting that government funding that had made the product possible, the letter writers urged the company to lower the drug’s price.

The CRAG is giving Sanofi one week to respond to the community demands, or will escalate action!

The scourge of tuberculosis (TB) continues to take thousands of lives every day across the world.

In recent months, two countries with large economies and large populations both took steps to rework their patent laws, in part, to expand access to medicines. The moves come amid increasing concerns that treatments for certain ailments, such as AIDS and cancer, are out of reach for many people. Their actions also underscore growing tension with the pharmaceutical industry over pricing policies and an increasing willingness among some governments to rely on international trade agreements to consider compulsory licenses as a work-around solution. Brook Baker, a professor in the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy at the Northeastern University School of Law, and a member of Health Gap, Global Access Project, suggests other countries may be emboldened to do the same.

To mark European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD), WHO/Europe and its partners are holding a live Twitter chat on antibiotic resistance. Experts from WHO/Europe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Commission directorates-general for research and for health and consumers will answer your questions.

Results from a Phase III trial that attempted to shorten the treatment duration for drug-sensitive pulmonary TB from four to six months, by using gatifloxacin instead of ethambutol, showed that the shortened treatment duration was inferior when compared to the standard treatment course. Results from the OFLOTUB trial were presented earlier this month at the 44th World Conference on Lung Health in Paris.

GENEVA – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria concluded its 30th meeting today with a firm endorsement of efforts leading to the Fourth Voluntary Replenishment Conference to be hosted by the United States Government in Washington D.C. on 2-3 December 2013.

On Tuesday, the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) published “a new fact sheet [.pdf] outlining the important contributions the U.S. government has made to global health [research and development (R&D)] and why it’s critical the United States continues to robustly support the global health research pipeline,” Nick Taylor, GHTC’s senior program assistant, writes in the group’s “Breakthroughs” blog. “Increased investments in global health research by the United States have the potential to increase the amount of tools combating global diseases,” he writes and summarizes some of the fact sheet’s data. “U.S. leaders should seize upon the recent successes in global health R&D and pass a long-term budget that ensures America’s legacy as a leader in innovation and science is not forgotten,” he concludes (11/5).

Analytic report “Implementation of TRIPS-flexibilities to improve access to medicines in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine” was developed to inform all parties concerned about possible ways of ARV price decreasing and understanding the importance of legislation changes guaranteeing access to ARV.