Mumbai: Health activists have slammed the move made by the multi national firm, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for donating 10,000 courses of Bedaquiline (BDQ) to the National Tuberculosis Control Programme. The activists have urged the Union health minister, J P Nadda to discontinue receiving donations from this company.
In a letter to Nadda, the organisations and various patient groups have stated, ‘such ad-hoc donations threaten the sustainability and predictability of the government’s MDR-TB treatment programme’.“This move of J&J is an attempt to seek leniency from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare investigates into harmful medical devices and cosmetic products marketed by them in India,” said Ganesh Acharya, a TB survivor and activist.
Recently, J&J announced they will provide additional 10,000 courses of the tuberculosis drug, Bedaquiline (BDQ) to the Indian government. Bedaquiline is a medication used to treat active tuberculosis and also used to treat multi drug resistant tuberculosis.
“The announcement of the new donation comes three years after the multiple regulatory actions and investigations by the Union Health Ministry into the harmful medical devices and cosmetic products marketed by J&J in India,” the letter stated. In a major scoop, it was revealed the company had admitted to providing faulty hip replacements and low quality stents.
Malini Aisola, the co-convener of All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), said that on the one hand J&J continues to control the supply of BDQ to the detriment of patients in India and the rest of the developing world and on the other, it is employing every tactics possible to avoid civil and criminal responsibility for harmful medical devices it has adopted in India.
“The government should ensure long term sustainability and encourage alternative suppliers after considering the law and policy measures to overcome the patent barriers for generic production of BDQ. This is important for the issuance of government authorisation under section 100 of the Patents Act,” said Aisola.
According to the civil society organisations, the donations of BDQ create dependence on a single supplier. Moreover activists allege, this stifles the willingness of the government to promote local production of BDQ by generic manufacturers.
“It is therefore extremely disappointing to see the government’s continued reliance on donations from J&J for the MDR-TB treatment. This is approach can’t sustain India’s TB programme which is meant to treat the world’s highest number of TB and MDR-TB cases, who are mainly poor. This is also antithetical to the government’s goal to eliminate TB in India by 2025,” they said.
