MSF calls for commitment from pharma corporation J&J to not enforce extended patents on lifesaving TB drug as main patent expires in India, opening door to affordable generics

As Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) 20-year primary patent on the critical, lifesaving drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) drug bedaquiline expires in India today, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on the US pharmaceutical corporation to publicly announce it will not enforce any ‘secondary’ patents for the drug in any country with a high burden of TB, and withdraw and abandon all pending secondary patent applications for this critical drug everywhere. MSF also called for a commitment from J&J to not take any legal action against any generic manufacturer that exports generic versions of bedaquiline to or from countries where secondary patents on the drug exist. The corporation should make this announcement public by the UN TB Summit taking place in New York this September.