PROFOH welcomes Johns Hopkins University and Medicines Patent Pool Agreement for Development of Promising New TB Drug

PROFOH is a ranking member of Treatment Action Group (TAG) coalition and also partners  Doctors Without Borders Access Campaign on this advocacy since 2014. It is therefore sweet victory to our organization and several public health groups, including Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) Access Campaign, Treatment Action Group, JHU students and alumni, the Global TB Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) and Public Citizen, etc. We welcome the announcement by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) of an agreement that could expedite the research and development of a promising tuberculosis drug that could lead to improved treatment options for people living with TB.

JHU holds several patents for the drug, sutezolid, and has agreed to a license deal with the MPP. The license would enable open non-exclusive licenses with multiple drug developers—including product development organizations, companies and governments—to conduct research and develop drug combinations that include sutezolid. It marks the first such open license for a TB drug held by an American university, and the first open license for a TB drug through the MPP. The MPP, an organization funded by UNITAID, has a mandate toincrease innovation and access to drugs through voluntary patent licensing. This agreement has the potential to greatly improve current treatment options, but it can only be truly effective if the treatments created are made accessible to people living with TB everywhere. The above mentioned group have, for years, called on JHU to license sutezolid as broadly as possible and with a public health approach.