NEW DELHI (AFP) – India’s Patent Office rejected on Thursday United States pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson’s (J&J) application to extend its patent on a key tuberculosis (TB) treatment, allowing local companies to make cheaper generic versions.
India accounted for nearly 29 per cent of 10.6 million TB cases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization’s 2022 Global TB report, a major public health problem as it struggles with drug-resistant strains.
J&J had applied to extend its patent on the drug bedaquiline until 2027 after it was challenged by two TB survivors in Mumbai in 2019.
