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Government to roll out new drug for treatment of drug-resistant TB

India Blooms News Service | | Mar 21, 2016, at 08:09 pm

#Food and Drug Administration # World Health Organisation # Johnson & Johnson

New Delhi, Mar 21 (IBNS) The central government is launching a drug called Bedaquiline on Monday for the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB), according to media reports.

Dubbed a 'miracle drug', Bedaquiline (trade name Sirturo) is the first TB drug to be approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in over 40 years.

The project is part of a coordinated programme between the government and Johnson & Johnson and has been rolled out under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme; Janssen, a pharma unit under Johnson & Johnson has manufactured the drug.

The drug will be made available in six public hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Guwahati and Ahmedabad, according to reports.

In an exclusive interview to Times of India, Sanjiv Navangul, Janssen India MD, said, "We are ready with the roll-out of the drug through the government-run control programme, for which 600 patients will be enrolled across the country, over the next six to nine months, after the required tests. Upon the review of clinical data after two years, the access programme will be expanded nationwide."

As per World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, deaths due to TB were estimated in India to be 2,20,000 in 2014, which is higher than any other country.

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