Tuberculosis

MSF responds to WHO’s annual global TB report: implores governments to use recent TB wins to beat back deadly infectious disease

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The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2023 Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report released today shows that the estimated global incidence of TB in 2022 remains unacceptably high, including for the more difficult to treat form of this disease, drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). With an estimated 1.3 million people having died from TB in 2022, and still only about … Read more

MSF calls again on J&J to withdraw or abandon extended patents on lifesaving TB drug as main patent expires in India today, opening door to more affordable generics

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MSF calls again on J&J to withdraw or abandon extended patents on lifesaving TB drug as main patent expires in India today, opening door to more affordable generics. Recent deal offering controlled generics access in limited countries does not go far enough.   Delhi/Cape Town/Geneva, 18 July, 2023 – As Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) 20-year … Read more

TB medicine deal offers short-term solution, but J&J needs to do more for all affected countries

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Christophe Perrin, TB advocacy pharmacist, MSF Access Campaign  “Today’s announcement by the Stop TB Partnership/Global Drug Facility about a deal with pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & Johnson (J&J), for access to affordable generic versions of the lifesaving tuberculosis (TB) drug bedaquiline, offers a short-term solution for low- and middle-income countries — but the deal remains just a … Read more

MSF applauds Indian Patent Office’s rejection of Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to extend monopoly on lifesaving TB drug

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Mumbai, 23 March 2023 – Today, the 2019 patent challenge by two tuberculosis (TB) survivors, Nandita Venkatesan and Phumeza Tisile, was successful: the Indian Patent Office rejected the US pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) attempt to extend its monopoly in India on the TB drug bedaquiline beyond the primary patent’s expiry this July. Médecins … Read more

Urgent need to improve access to TB testing to support rollout of better, safer, shorter treatment for drug-resistant TB

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Delhi, 22 March 2023 – Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on governments and donors today to speed up access to new, shorter, safer and more effective treatments* for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), as well as the diagnostic tests needed to implement the new treatment regimens. MSF joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and other … Read more

Between life and living: Patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) share stories of strength, support and suffering

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India has the highest burden of both tuberculosis (TB) and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) based on estimates in the WHO Global TB Report 2022. The country accounts for 28 percent of the global TB burden.   In its clinic in Mumbai, MSF provides free, comprehensive diagnostics and treatment services to people with severe forms of drug-resistant … Read more

Global TB Report 2022: MSF calls for scale up of shorter and safer DR-TB treatments to help save more lives

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The World Health Organization (WHO) released today the 2022 edition of its Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report, featuring data on the TB response and trends in 215 countries and areas. Among the alarming trends from 2021, there is an increase in the estimated incidence of TB for the first time in two decades, including for the more difficult … Read more

Fighting TB with Hope: Stories of Stigma and Strength from Three Generations in Mumbai, India

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From a seven-year-old child to a mother of two children, drug-resistant tuberculosis is rampant among all age groups. Globally, TB is the leading killer among infectious diseases. One-third of these deaths occurred in India. Patients either do not receive timely, accurate diagnoses or are unable to access the new drug regimen of Bedaquiline and Delamanid. … Read more

Tuberculosis: MSF responds to updated WHO guidelines for tuberculosis in children

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The deadly tuberculosis diagnostic gap in children remains a major challenge Geneva – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcomes the updated World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for the management of tuberculosis (TB) in children and adolescents, which provide recommendations to diagnose TB in children, and to rapidly initiate treatment at more decentralised levels of … Read more

Tuberculosis: Clinical trial results offer hope to DR-TB patients with short, effective treatment

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LONDON – TB-PRACTECAL, a clinical trial led by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has found that a new, all-oral, six-month treatment regimen is safer and more effective at treating rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) [1] than the currently accepted standard of care. These results signal the start of a new chapter for people with drug-resistant (DR)-TB, who … Read more