Pretomanid is part of two new treatment regimens with high efficacy and shorter treatment durations recently recommended by the WHO as the preferred regimens for most drug-resistant tuberculosis patients
Viatris, a global healthcare company, MedAccess, and TB Alliance have announced a new agreement to reduce the price of pretomanid, a drug used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, by 34 per cent. Pretomanid (Pa) is used in combination with bedaquiline (B), linezolid (L), and sometimes moxifloxacin (M) to form BPaL and BPaLM – six-month, all-oral treatment regimens, found to be effective at curing 89-91 per cent of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients treated.
With the new WHO guidance on TB treatment, almost all drug-resistant TB patients will now be eligible for the shorter BPaL/BPaLM regimens.
In July 2020, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved the TB drug pretomanid (developed specifically for certain drug-resistant forms of the disease) for conditional access under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP), making India the second country in the world to provide regulatory approval for this product.
The partnership aims to help to expand access to a critical new treatment in more than 140 countries, including those with the highest TB burden.
A volume guarantee to be provided by MedAccess to Viatris will see the ceiling price of pretomanid reduced to $240 Ex Works per six-month treatment course. It will help to bring both BPaL and BPaLM substantially closer to $500 per patient course.
MedAccess projects that its guarantee will enable an additional 36,000 patients to be treated successfully and help avert 31,000 adverse events that require hospitalisation or cause disability as patients switch from the current standard-of-care.
Governments and global procurers are expected to make direct savings of $15.6 million thanks to the guarantee, with additional savings for national healthcare budgets as they care for fewer patients with long-term MDR-TB.
The new ceiling price will be available to more than 140 governments, and NGOs and public sector procurers purchasing pretomanid in those countries.
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