Treatment regimens for drug resistant TB will see a price drop up to 29%
The Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility (GDF) today announced price reductions up to 55% for bedaquiline, a critical drug used to treat drug-resistant TB (DR-TB).
The new, reduced bedaquiline prices – secured through an open, competitive tender and valid through December 2024 – are as follows:
These new bedaquiline prices are available to the vast majority of low- and middle-income countries and reflect a 55% and 33% price decrease for Johnson & Johnson and Lupin, respectively, compared to the previous price of US$289 for a 6-month treatment course of bedaquiline.
Around 450,000 people are estimated to have drug-resistant TB. The GDF estimates its lower bedaquiline prices will generate US$8 million in savings over the 16-month contract period, an amount sufficient to procure more than 51,000 additional bedaquiline treatments and potentially support thousands more people to access critical treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis.
“This price reduction is a momentous breakthrough in the fight to end TB and it is especially timely in the leadup to the UN High-Level Meeting on TB to be held in New York in September”, said Dr. Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership. “The rise of drug-resistant TB is a huge threat to the fight against TB. Worryingly, every year around 300,000 people with drug-resistant TB remain missed by the health services, therefore potentially spreading the infection.”
“No one should have to suffer from drug-resistant tuberculosis simply because they cannot afford treatment,” said Dr. Atul Gawande, Assistant Administrator of USAID’s Global Health Bureau. USAID is the largest bilateral donor leading the international TB response. “This historic price reduction will broaden access to this life-saving drug and keep us on the path to end TB by 2030.”
“Today marks the culmination of several years of collaborative effort across numerous stakeholders, including the United States Agency for International Development, Stop TB, the World Health Organization, The Global Fund, pharmaceutical manufacturers, national TB programs and others to build a competitive bedaquiline market able to deliver quality-assured, affordable bedaquiline to low- and middle-income countries”, said Dr. Brenda Waning, GDF Chief.
Bedaquiline is a core component of nearly every regimen recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for treatment of DR-TB. Bedaquiline, together with pretomanid, linezolid, and moxifloxacin comprise BPaLM, the preferred regimen recommended by the WHO for treatment of DR-TB. For people with resistance to moxifloxacin, WHO recommends the use of BPaL (bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid) for DR-TB treatment. The reduction in the price of bedaquiline will result in an overall decrease in the cost of 6-month treatment regimens for DR-TB of between 27% and 29%*.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the significant reduction in the price of bedaquiline, one of the most important medicines for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Programme. “This drug price reduction will significantly increase access to treatment for those who are in need, especially in countries with a high burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis This will help save lives and help accelerate the progress towards achieving the End TB Strategy targets.”
“Not only have we reached the US$500 target price for key DR-TB regimens established by partners such as Médecins Sans Frontières, but the new BPaL price squeaked in just below $400; and GDF’s reduced bedaquiline prices set a new bar for other suppliers to further decrease medicine prices and bring BPaLM regimen prices well under US$400 in the very near future”, noted Waning.
Dr. Chukwuma Anyaike, Director Public Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria, indicates that “in Nigeria, quantifying and costing for medicines for the number of DR-TB patients expected to be put on treatment each year is a huge challenge as it takes up a significant proportion of our annual resources despite the fact that the number of patients identified were between 2000 to 3000 annually. Nigeria is a high DR-TB burden Country housing about 15,000 DR-TB cases each year and the identified cases are increasing yearly. This drop in price is coming in the very right moment for us, as we plan to further increase the treatment coverage rate of DR-TB in the country starting from identifying about 6000 cases in 2024. However, we still have the challenge of financial gap required to treat the expected huge number to be identified in the TB response. I know am not speaking just for myself, but for all leaders of TB programmes in the world”.
Mr. Austin Obiefuna, vice chair of the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat Board commented: “Every person diagnosed with drug resistant TB should be ensured access to the non-injectable, 6 months treatment regimen and this reduced price takes us exactly in that direction. However, I hope that we can work together and further reduce this price to a value closer to US$300 per regimen.”
“Given the GDF savings allow procurement of 50,000 additional bedaquiline treatments, this is amazing! Let’s keep in mind that only 162,000 people were treated for DR-TB in 2021” added Dr. Ditiu. “We hope this will encourage donors and governments to set bold targets and invest in health system interventions to find and treat the estimated 300,000 missing people with DR-TB that remain untreated year upon year.”
Countries can access the new bedaquiline prices in the GDF Medicines Catalog and place new orders for bedaquiline and other medicines on the Stop TB website.