Their 54-page application, submitted to India’s patent office in Mumbai, has cited several sections of the Indian patent laws under which, Venkatesan and Tisle have argued, the patent should not be granted. “I lost my hearing at age 24, this was a brutal side effect of the injectable TB drugs,” Venkatesan said in a media statement on Friday. Medical experts say the higher cure rates justify the call to expand the use of bedaquiline. “Now, drug-resistant TB programmes elsewhere need this drug at an affordable price. Generic versions of the drug could be available at reduced prices if the patent application is rejected.”

Source: The Telegraph February 08, 2019 23:03 UTC