Why is MSF campaigning for Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to lower the price of lifesaving tuberculosis drug bedaquiline?

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide and about half a million people fall ill with drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) every year. Bedaquiline is the first new drug developed to treat TB in more than 40 years and the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised that it should replace the older, toxic treatments which have poor efficacy and can cause devastating side effects such as deafness and psychosis.  And yet, more than 80% of people with DR-TB worldwide do not have access to this breakthrough medicine.

This lack of access is because the owner of bedaquiline’s patent – pharma giant J&J – has set the price of bedaquiline too high. However, as bedaquiline was developed with considerable public funding (coming from US taxpayers, non-profits, and philanthropic support) MSF believes that J&J does not have the right to set the price of bedaquiline at a rate prohibitive to the public who helped to fund its development. As such, we launched an international, public-facing campaign to pressure J&J to meet our demand and lower the price of bedaquiline to $1 a day.

Why is MSF reaching out to you, now?

We believe this is an important moment to pressure J&J in the US.  The company is dealing with multiple scandals and lawsuits concerning its conduct, subjecting its prized image as an ethical company to new public scrutiny.  And as J&J touts its contributions in the realm of TB, we have an opportunity to puncture the company’s inflated claims and threaten its vulnerable brand. Moreover, our campaign dovetails with a growing movement in the US focused on lowering drug prices generally and assuring that products resulting from taxpayer-funded research are available to everyone who needs them.

Drug prices are figuring prominently in presidential campaign rhetoric, and more and more groups are engaging in advocacy on this issue.  We know that many students within this group are deeply involved in such efforts, and believe you have tremendous potential to make an impact.  We will identify some opportunities for students to support the effort in coming weeks but, above all, we invite you to share your thoughts on how to move J&J!!