Indian Patent Office Rejects TB Alliance Application for Six-Month Regimen
· Business · Hindustan Times, Times of India, Indian Express
The Indian Patent Office rejected a patent application for BPaL, a three-medicine combination that shortens drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment to six months, following oppositions from public health advocates. The application was filed by the US-based Global Alliance for TB Drug Development for the combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid. Opponents including Eldred Tellis, Ganesh Acharya, and the Delhi Network of Positive People argued that combining existing medicines lacked an inventive step and was already disclosed in prior clinical research. BPaL is an all-oral regimen recommended by the World Health Organization, and a similar four-drug version called BPaLM has already been administered to over 15,000 patients under India's national TB programme. Patent oppositions were supported by groups including the Lawyers Collective, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Third World Network.
Why it matters
TB patients and generic drug manufacturers in India gain wider access to produce and access affordable treatments for drug-resistant tuberculosis without patent barriers.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
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