Bedaquiline: A new hope to MDR-TB patients in the Philippines

The US government, through USAID, has partnered with the Department of Health (DOH) to allow Filipinos to have equitable access to health services, particularly for the treatment and prevention of TB.

Karen Klimowski, acting deputy mission director of USAID Philippines, said the donation of bedaquiline will enable patients in nearly 100 countries (including the Philippines) to access this life-saving medication and fight MDR-TB. 

Klimowski noted the low detection and diagnosis coupled with limited treatment options lead to poor treatment outcomes and higher incident of poverty. “We need to address the challenges and ensure that all TB patients get the treatment they need to improve their health including the health of their families and communities,” she said.

Dr. Roberto Salvino, Johnson & Johnson country medical director, said this collaboration forges a new model of engagement in global public health by leveraging the expertise and capabilities of the two of the largest private and public organizations engaged in the global TB effort. 

Salvino added the bedaquiline donation program helps to address the global unmet need, leverage public and public sector strengths, utilize improved diagnostic tools that facilitate the diagnostic of MDR-TB patients, encourage appropriate and responsible use of medicines, and spur broader collaborative motivations addressing neglected diseases. 

 “This partnership comes in an appropriate time wherein we do not only cure MDR-TB but we also provide them a quality life. If we persist with the medication that has a lot of intolerable side effects, we will not be successful in our goals even if we have strategies,” said Janette Loreto-Garin, DOH secretary. 

Garin said the cost of bedaquiline makes access difficult for many low- and middle-income countries like the Philippines. “That is our problem… We also have health challenges and a challenge on how to treat MDR-TB,” she noted.

Once the treatment is available, Garin said the biggest dilemma that each country and government will face is the “affordability.” 

To help this problem and get the drug to those who need it most, Janssen is donating 30,000 courses of treatment for TB. It will be given initially to 75 persons in 10 hospitals in the country.  

USAID, Klimowski said, will ensure the treatment is warehoused, transported, delivered safely, and ready for use. It will also provide technical assistance to DOH’s national TB control program to optimize the introduction of the medicine and ensure its safe use. 

Johnson & Johnson is commited to develop and deliver innovative medicines that address serious global public health issues such as MDR-TB. 

 “Despite the development of new MDR-TB treatment options, the ability to scale up the appropriate use of new and existing treatment regimens remains challenging,” Salvino said. 

MDR-TB is one example of a growing global threat – anti-microbial resistance – that is extremely difficult to fight and often costs people their health and livelihoods. It requires much longer treatment, often needing up two years to complete a treatment course, compared to six months with drug-susceptible TB. 

Treatment options are lengthy, toxic, and complicated, involving hundreds of pills and injections, and carry severe side effects.

When left untreated or fail to complete their treatment properly, persons with MDR-TB may infect 10 to 15 people every year. They transmit resistant forms of TB back into the community and can infect others.

This in turn threatens the effective prevention and treatment of TB, making the disease more difficult and potentially impossible to treat. 

According to the World Health Organization, there are 480,000 estimated cases of MDR-TB and 123,000 of MDR-TB cases detected, while 111,000 TB patients started on MDR-TB treatment. Fifty percent of MDR-TB cases started on treatment with successful outcome.

Source: Malaya Business Insight