In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over 600 signatories on Wednesday urged the government to add short course drug-resistant regime in IndiaтАЩs tuberculosis guidelines and scale up the preventative therapy. Among the 614 signatories are members of civil society, and affected communities, apart from survivors. The appeal came a day before World TB Day on Thursday.
Blessina Kumar, CEO, of the Global Coalition of TB Advocates, is among those who urged PM Modi to rapidly respond to a shorter and more effective treatment. Drawing from the experiences of drug-resistant TB survivors, the letter also highlights current gaps in diagnosis, treatment, nutrition, stigma mitigation, and other aspects of disease management.
India needs to launch a national campaign on stigma reduction and provide mental health support to those affected, recommended Survivors Against TB (SATB), a community-based movement.
Of the estimated 10.6 million people who fell ill with TB in 2021, India accounted for 28 per cent of patients, according to the Global Tuberculosis Report 2022 by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Last year, the WHO recommended that patients with Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), including those with additional resistance to fluoroquinolones, stand to benefit from effective all-oral treatment regimens.
Dr. Animesh Sinha, HIV, TB, and hepatitis advisor at M├йdecins Sans Fronti├иres (MSF), United Kingdom, on Tuesday told reporters that in high TB burden countries, including India, the availability of a six-month all-oral regimen for the treatment can be a game-changer. It can help ensure that more patients can complete treatment sooner with better outcomes and lesser side effects. тАЬWe have urged the Indian government to take immediate necessary steps to roll out this regimen and save more lives,тАЭ Dr. Sinha said.
The WHO guidelines тАУ that recommended countries roll out the safer and shorter BPaLM regimen тАУ were partly based on the results of MSFтАЩs multi-country TB PRACTECAL clinical trial. MSF authorities said that drug prices also need to come down.
At TuesdayтАЩs virtual briefing, MSF authorities told reporters that they have urged the US-based diagnostics corporation, Cepheid, to drop the price of the critical GeneXpert tests.
The lowest available price for this newer DR-TB treatment regimen is still $570, and MSF has called for the price of a complete DR-
TB course, including the BPaLM regimen, to be no more than $500.
Five countries, where MSF works, have started implementing the shorter regimens тАУ Belarus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Sierra Leone, and Pakistan. Further price reductions will pave the way for the rollout of this treatment in many more countries, MSF officials said.
тАЬWe yet again call on Cepheid to reduce the price of the TB tests to no more than $5 each, so that more people with drug-resistant TB can be diagnosed in time and be offered improved, lifesaving treatments,тАЭ stated Stijn Deborggraeve, Diagnostics Advisor at MSFтАЩs Access Campaign.
