Equity Pharmaceuticals is the new supplier of the drug.
On October 5, 2015 GoundUp reported that South Africa was running out of an essential medicine – intravenous rifampicin – for treating very sick patients with tuberculosis and drug-resistant bacterial infections. The reason for that was the discontinuation of the medicine production by its sole supplier for the country – Sandoz.
In a response statement from October 7, 2015 Sandoz claimed to be working to identify an alternate supplier for South African patients in need.
On October 29, 2015 Sandoz informed Treatment Action Group that an alternate source of intravenous rifampicin had been identified for the South African market – Equity Pharmaceuticals, effective immediately, is able to supply South African patients with a sustainable supply of this intravenous treatment under Section 21 terms.