Dear colleagues,
South Centre has recently published the report “Global Activism to Make Patented Drugs More Accessible: An ITPC Case Study of Bedaquiline for Treatment of Tuberculosis” written by Priti Patnaik, documenting the outcomes of civil society efforts to address patent barriers to the TB drug bedaquiline.
The report highlights results from advocacy and legal actions undertaken in Brazil, Ukraine, Thailand, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Vietnam, countries involved in ITPC’s Make Medicines Affordable campaign.
It documents 15 coordinated patent oppositions, leading to patent rejections in Brazil and Thailand, and to Johnson & Johnson’s announcement that it would not enforce its bedaquiline patents in 134 low- and middle-income countries. These developments contributed to facilitating the entry of more affordable generic versions of the medicine.
Read the report:
- https://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/SC-BDQ-TB-Report-P-Patnaik_Mar-26.pdf
- https://makemedicinesaffordable.org/resource/global-activism-to-make-patented-drugs-more-accessible-an-itpc-case-study-of-bedaquiline-for-treatment-of-tuberculosis/
Best wishes,
Morgane for the ITPC team