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More bullying? J&J will be investigated for high TB drug prices and abuse of patent laws

21 Sep 2023

In an unprecedented move, South Africa's Competition Commission will investigate the American drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for the high price it has been charging the country for the tuberculosis (TB) medicine bedaquiline, as well as for extending the tablets' 20-year patent until 2027 to block cheaper generics from entering the country.

Source: J&J.

South Africa has one of the highest TB disease rates in the world, and, despite it being curable, TB is the country’s top killer.

Bedaquiline is used to treat multidrug resistant (MDR) TB, a type of TB for which standard treatment doesn’t work. The drug, which is mostly used in combination with other medicines, has to be taken for six months and is considered a game changer because it has replaced treatment – up to two years of long, painful injections with serious side-effects such as hearing loss – with lower cure and higher death rates.

Read the full article by Mia Malan at Daily Maverick.

Source: Daily Maverick

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