US drug maker Johnson and Johnson will offer its new tuberculosis (TB) drug, Bedaquiline, at $900 (Rs 70,000) once its conditional access programme with the government of India ends in 2019, the company said in an interview to ET.
Used in the treatment of multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB, Bedaquiline antibiotic has come into the market after 40 years. J&J said India is eligible for the lowest global price and that it is working on a sustainable access strategy.
“Recognising the ongoing and significant burden of TB, we are in conversations with the Indian government to ensure affordable and sustainable access to bedaquiline in the long term, once the Janssen-USAID donation programme comes to an end in early March 2019,” said Sanjiv Navangul, managing director, J&J India.
The conditional access programme offers 10,000 courses of treatment to be administered across six centres in India. J&J said the government has received 6,750 courses of this, with the remaining to be delivered within the “agreed timelines placed by the Central TB division.” For the US drug maker, Bedaquiline is one of the portfolio it is betting on for markets such as India and South Africa, where the TB burden is high.