Threat of TB Forces Manufacturers to Sell Drugs Cheaply

The threat of a global epidemic of drug-resistant TB, along with a drop in revenues, have persuaded major drug manufacturers to provide cheap TB treatments for developing countries. The companies, including Eli Lilly and Jacobus Pharmaceuticals of New Jersey, will sell three treatments for TB at between half and one-tenth of their usual cost in a deal brokered by the World Health Organization (WHO). The drugs will be used to treat people in Russia, Peru and the Philippines. Latvia and Estonia are to be included soon.

Lilly will provide two treatments -- capreomycin and cycloserine -- to WHO for $1, a 97 percent discount on the normal price. Although only 1.5 percent of the 8 million cases of TB worldwide annually are multi-drug-resistant, the bacterium is evolving rapidly in a number of countries. The companies involved fear that, if the program is not rigorously policed, the bacterium will develop resistance to the three drugs. This would not only make the drugs useless, but also wipe out the companies' profits. Both companies warn they will pull out of the deal if they find out that medication compliance is low and hospital monitoring to ensure regime compliance is not taking place. WHO is still trying to seal agreements for cheap supplies of the drugs ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin.

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