Indian campaigners ask government to stop relying on handouts of bedaquiline to ensure supply

Health and patients’ rights groups have asked India’s health ministry to stop depending on donations of bedaquiline from Johnson and Johnson to treat patients with multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and instead use its own funds to procure the drug.

In a letter sent to the health ministry last week, the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), a consortium of physicians and health activists, and other groups said dependence on “piecemeal donations” threatened the sustainability and predictability of the government’s plan to treat patients with MDR-TB.

They have asked the government to phase out donated bedaquiline and find and treat all patients in India eligible for the bedaquiline based regimen through its domestic budget.

The …