How Big Pharma Rigged the Patent System

Back in March, the Patent Office of India denied an application from Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) to extend to 2027 its patent on its drug bedaquiline, which is the best last-ditch treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis. The decision came thanks to the work of two activists, Nandita Venkatesan from India and Phumeza Tisle from South Africa, who filed a petition with the office with the backing of Médecins Sans Frontières and other nonprofits.

From the perspective of the Indian government, this decision was a no-brainer. Not only was the patent extension an obvious attempt by J&J to secure a few more years of monopoly profits due to tiny, inconsequential changes they’d made to the drug, but India has the worst tuberculosis burden in the world. Some 40 percent of its population is TB-positive, and it has the largest population of drug-resistant TB cases of any country—a problem that got much worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, which badly disrupted efforts to test and treat new infections. Refusing the patent extension is estimated to cut the cost of bedaquiline treatment in India from $46 per month to $8—a huge benefit for a country that is still quite poor.