IN A bid to stamp out drug-resistant tuberculosis before it sweeps the globe,
the World Health Organization has secured cheap access to the only effective
drugs, 51¶¯Âþ has learned.
After months of detailed talks, manufacturers have agreed to slash their
prices by between 60 and 90 per cent when supplying poor countries. The deal
comes just months after the industry’s climbdown over HIV drugs and patents in
South Africa.
Only 1.5 per cent of TB cases worldwide are multidrug-resistant. But
resistant TB is spreading rapidly in hot spots such as Russia. Resistance can
evolve when patients stop taking drugs…
