STAT+: Will India issue sidestep patents on a pair of pricey — but lifesaving — TB drugs?
A widely anticipated court hearing will be held in India on Wednesday over the cost of a pair of tuberculosis drugs and whether the Indian government will side with activists and sidestep the patents.
At issue are two medicines — Sirutro and Deltyba — that are among the newest treatments for tuberculosis and offer 80% cure rates, which are substantially higher than older medications used for drug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB. But prices have become a flashpoint, since the medicines are often used in combination with other treatments, which raises the overall costs of treatment even higher.
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