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    More bullying? J&J will be investigated for high TB drug prices and abuse of patent laws

    In an unprecedented move, South Africa's Competition Commission will investigate the American drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for the high price it has been charging the country for the tuberculosis (TB) medicine bedaquiline, as well as for extending the tablets' 20-year patent until 2027 to block cheaper generics from entering the country.
    Source: J&J.
    Source: J&J.

    South Africa has one of the highest TB disease rates in the world, and, despite it being curable, TB is the country’s top killer.

    Bedaquiline is used to treat multidrug resistant (MDR) TB, a type of TB for which standard treatment doesn’t work. The drug, which is mostly used in combination with other medicines, has to be taken for six months and is considered a game changer because it has replaced treatment – up to two years of long, painful injections with serious side-effects such as hearing loss – with lower cure and higher death rates.

    Read the full article by Mia Malan at Daily Maverick.

    Source: Daily Maverick

    Daily Maverick is a unique blend of news, information, analysis and opinion delivered from our newsrooms in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. There are many ways to describe exactly what we do (and for the price of a cup of coffee we’re capable of talking your ears off about it), but the best way to understand the end result is to experience it. Every part of Daily Maverick is free-to-air and no payment is required, although free registration is required for a small subset of functions and pages.

    Daily Maverick is run by an independently owned, private company with no affiliation to any other media group (or political party or religious organisation.) Follow Daily Maverick on Twitter at @dailymaverick.

    Go to: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
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