In an unexpected turnabout, Johnson & Johnson announced it would not enforce any of its patents for a key tuberculosis medicine in 134 low- and middle-income countries, the second time in recent weeks that a manufacturer has agreed to widen access to products needed to combat the infectious disease.
The move comes after the health care giant has recently faced accelerating demands to alter its pricing and patenting policies for the drug, which is called bedaquiline and is considered the backbone in treatment used to combat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Advocacy groups have argued J&J was preventing access in countries with the highest rates of the infectious disease.
A sustained campaign targeting J&J was building for years, but took a new turn this past summer when novelist and social media influencer John Green posted a video on YouTube that criticized the company for placing untold numbers of patients in jeopardy. The effort, which was coordinated with different groups, including Partners in Health and Doctors Without Borders, placed J&J on the defensive.