E-DRUG: Two recent MSF Access Campaign media statements relating to TB.
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Dear all,
Please find below two recent MSF Access Campaign media statements relating to TB.
Two MSF TB statements: MSF AC response to USAID/Janssen announcement on BDQ donation programme; BRICS countries must boost investments in research to defeat deadly DRTB crisis
1) MSF response to Janssen's bedaquiline donation announcement
Read the announcements here:
http://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/dec-11-2014-usaid-and-johnson-johnson-tackle-antibiotic-resistant-tuberculosis
http://www.jnj.com/news/all/Johnson-Johnson-Announces-Collaboration-between-Janssen-and-USAID-to-Expand-Access-to-Anti-Multidrug-Resistant-Tuberculosis-MDR-TB-Compound
edecins Sans Fronteres responds to the news of the donation announced by
USAID and J&J/Janssen:
"Janssen's new TB drug bedaquiline has been on the market for two years,
yet to date around only 500 people have been treated with the drug.
Bedaquiline has shown promise in successfully treating the deadliest forms
of tuberculosis, and is recommended by WHO for this use, but the drug's
lack of registration in countries, high price and slow research efforts
are hindering its wider use.
"Drug donations are not a long-term solution to meeting the needs of
patients; donations are time-limited stopgap fixes that come with
restrictions on where, how and who can access the medicine. The best way
to get as many people on treatment as possible is for Janssen to simply
offer the drug at a more affordable price for everyone in low- and
middle-income countries.
"It remains to be seen which countries will benefit from the donation
programme, but we believe it should include all high-burden and TB-endemic
countries.
"With the TB community waiting for new TB drugs for 50 years and more than
200,000 patients dying from MDR-TB every year, the very slow uptake of
bedaquiline is a scandal. It is crucial to start closing the treatment
gap, and we urge all treatment providers to move swiftly towards putting
more people on available treatments, including regimens that include new
TB drugs.
"MSF also calls on all TB medicine manufacturers to offer their drugs at
prices that ensure access for all people who need it, and this means
considering the total cost of multiple drugs needed for TB regimens. Only
by significantly scaling up the number of people diagnosed with
drug-resistant tuberculosis, with all patients receiving treatment, will
we see a drastic fall in the rate of new infections and deaths from this
crisis."
- Dr Jennifer Cohn, Medical Director, Medecins Sans Frontieres Access
Campaign.
2) Press release on the day of the IV MEETING OF THE MINISTERS OF HEALTH
OF THE BRICS in Brasilia on 5 Dec, 2014
PRESS RELEASE
BRICS countries must boost investments in research to defeat deadly
drug-resistant tuberculosis crisis
Political will remains key barrier to deploying BRICS resources towards
the development of a new generation of treatments for drug-resistant TB
Rio de Janeiro, 5 December 2014 - As government representatives from
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - known as the BRICS
countries- convene today in Brasilia for the fourth official BRICS
Ministers of Health Meeting, where opportunities for cooperation on health
projects, including on tuberculosis (TB), will be discussed, Doctors
Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) expressed that while it
welcomes the BRICS countries' prioritization of efforts to address the
deadly TB epidemic, it is concerned by the lack of focus and resources
being put towards developing new treatment regimens urgently needed to
combat drug-resistant forms of the disease.
People living in BRICS countries are disproportionately affected by TB: 60
% of all TB cases in high-burden countries and 60% of multi-drug-resistant
TB (MDR-TB) cases globally are found in BRICS countries. Current treatment
options for MDR-TB are expensive and woefully inadequate, with poor
treatment success rates, many patients experiencing horrible side effects
such as deafness, and limited treatment options for people with the
deadliest form of the disease, extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).
Current BRICS investments in national TB programmes will prove inadequate
to turn back the growing MDR-TB crisis unless new, more effective and more
tolerable treatment regimens are developed and put into routine use.
'BRICS countries have both the capacity and a responsibility to transform
the failing approach to research and development for drug-resistant
tuberculosis treatments' said Felipe Carvalho of the MSF Access Campaign
in Brazil. 'Alarm bells should be going off around the world. Investment
into TB research is declining, major drug companies are abandoning TB
research entirely, and the first new TB drugs developed in half a century
remain virtually useless to the vast majority of patients because they
haven't been tested in the drug combinations that are necessary to cure
TB. Now is the time for BRICS countries to create incentives for new
public and private sector research initiatives that focus on rapidly
delivering effective treatment regimens to people with tuberculosis.'
At the second Health Ministers meeting in 2013, the BRICS countries
recognized MDR-TB as a major public health problem, and a number of recent
BRICS public statements have highlighted the countries' desire to reduce
the burden of TB through innovation in new drugs and vaccines. Recently,
at a meeting in Beijing, the BRICS countries decided to strengthen their
collaboration in the field of pharmaceutical innovation, focusing on
specific health challenges including tuberculosis. Despite the fact that
the BRICS health cooperation framework and joint financing initiatives
like the new BRICS Development Bank have been put in place, no initiative
that would achieve this vision for TB treatment has so far been put forth.
'Now is the time for the BRICS countries to step forward and be a part of
the solution. Stronger leadership from BRICS countries could drive the
development of a robust pipeline of anti-TB drugs, while promoting open
and collaborative research focused on the development of new treatment
regimens that patients desperately need,â said Julia Hill, Access Advocacy
Officer for MSF's Access Campaign in South Africa. 'Using innovative
research models, BRICS countries could lead the way in delivering new
treatment regimens at affordable prices, for example by adequately
rewarding promising research during the development process, instead of
waiting to recoup research investments through sales of high-priced
medicines.'
MSF provides TB treatment in 24 countries, including India, Russia and
South Africa. In 2013, MSF treated almost 30,000 people with TB, and 1,950
patients with drug-resistant TB. Our medical teams are reminded every day
of the need for better treatment options when they witness the
debilitating side effects and unacceptably low cure rates of existing
drug-resistant TB treatments. Learn more about MSF's proposal for a new
approach to TB drug research and development:
http://www.msfaccess.org/push-pull-pool.