J&J did not develop this drug alone. Government money and expertise were heavily invested in the development of bedaquiline.
Taxpayers paid for bedaquiline to be developed through research funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the US Agency for International Development, while the TB research community, academic institutions such as the University of Cape Town and treatment providers such as MSF, among others, contributed to bedaquiline’s development by running clinical trials and real-world research that demonstrated the drug’s potential to dramatically improve cure rates.
We therefore demand that when the public pays for a drug, it has a say in making sure the drug is available to those who need it. Because this drug should belong to the people who helped develop this drug, not to J&J alone.
