A new drug that could help a lot of people will apparently be more expensive than it should / Boing Boing

Pretomanid, developed by TB Alliance, a nonprofit, offers a new, safer and more effective treatment for TB. This non-profit organization is organized to improve the access and affordability of life-saving treatments, but has currently allowed only one drug manufacturer to produce pretanide. Doctors Without Borders fears that high prices limit availability.

NPR:

"In all low-income countries, we will encourage other manufacturers, generic manufacturers, to enter the market – to compete for lower prices as well," he said.

But Lynch of Doctors Without Borders thinks that there is a better way to keep these drugs affordable: integrate the low-cost licensing agreement into the licensing agreement with Mylan, which the organizations have not revealed.

"What works even better than the competition – which, by the way, will take a while – is that you set a reasonably low price to start," she says.

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