Hopkins Developing New Drug To Fight Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Like a lot of dangerous bacteria, the strain that causes tuberculosis has developed resistance to antibiotics. Hopkins School of Public Health is developing a new medicine to combat TB. What's at stake is who gets the medicine.
Alex DeMetrick on the push to make Hopkins' medicine available to as many people as possible.
What would be good news in the fight against TB, public health groups are pushing Hopkins for the best possible news--medicine that's affordable.
Testing for tuberculosis starts early in the U.S., but there are many countries where TB is not discovered until the bacteria has caused major infections in the lungs.
"Tuberculosis is most common in poor environments," said Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen Group.
And TB is getting tougher to fight as it grows drug resistant.
In 2013, nine million people were infected in poorer countries; 1.5 million died as a result.
Current treatment takes two years, with eight months of injections and over 14,000 pills.
But Hopkins School of Public Health is developing a promising new drug, and university student and public health groups want Hopkins to share it.
"This is a very promising treatment in development. We want to make sure it's the best treatment it can be," said Maybarduk.
By not letting one pharmaceutical company gain sole access to the drug's patents:
"That allow them to control these medicines for a long period of time, and that means they can price at any point they want," said Maybarduk.
Besides making the drug more affordable by letting others have access to the patents, more labs could work with Hopkins' discovery and possibly make improvements upon it, especially as TB gains new resistance.
Hopkins declined an on camera interview, but in a statement, says: "We are deeply committed to bringing drugs to market that benefit patients and address major unmet needs."
Basically, groups are asking Hopkins not to lock this drug up, but to open it up.
"Making the drug the best it can be and also the most affordable it can be," Maybarduk said.
According to our media partner, The Baltimore Sun, Hopkins is in the final stages of negotiating a sale of its drug to a Rockville pharmaceutical company. Hopkins would not confirm those negotiations.
Drug resistant TB is most common in eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
