MSF call for cap for MDR-TB drug costs: only 180 people use delamanid over two years
22 March 2016. Related: Treatment access.
MSF press release
On 24 February 2016, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported in a press release that more than two years after the approval of the new TB drug delamanid, only 180 people globally have used it, due to the high cost. [1]
Delamanid is one of only two new TB drug to be approved in the last 50 years, and is effective against multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB.
Delamanid needs to be taken with other drugs to treat drug-resistant TB. These regimens, without delamanid, cost between $1,000 – $4,500 per course at the lowest prices available to developing countries. Otsuka, the manufacturer of delamamid, said that it would charge some developing countries US $1,700 per treatment course. [2]
To date, Otsuka has registered delamanid in only four countries (Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom), none of which has a high burden of DR-TB.
MSF demand that the company register delamanid in high DR-TB burden countries and in countries where clinical trials for the drug took place.
To help with widespread scale up of DR-TB treatment, MSF is advocating for a target price of $500 per treatment course for drug-resistant TB.
Dr. Grania Brigden, TB Advisor for MSF’s Access Campaign said: “delamanid is neither affordable nor available in most countries today. The price […] needs to come down to an affordable level […] If people can’t access delamanid, this promising new drug will be effectively worthless.”
References:
- MSF press release. Developing countries hit with high price for important new tuberculosis drug: More than two years after drug approved, only 180 people globally have received it
http://www.msfaccess.org/about-us/media-room/press-releases/developing-countries-hit-high-price-important-new-tuberculosis-dr - DR-TB drug regimen prices are from the forthcoming MSF publication, DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope, 4th Edition, March 2016.