UN TB SUMMIT

MSF asks Johnson & Johnson to step away from secondary patents for key TB drug

The US pharmaceutical giant's 20-year primary patent on drug-resistant TB medicine bedaquiline expires in a majority of countries this month, including India. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has once again urged Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to not enforce any 'secondary' patents for its tuberculosis drug bedaquiline in any country with a high burden of TB, and withdraw all pending secondary patent applications for it.