Indian Patent Office Rejects TB Drug Patent, Boosting Push For Affordable MDR-TB Treatment

Mumbai, October 27, 2026: The Indian Patent Office has dismissed a patent application from the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a move that advocates hope will lead to more affordable treatment for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The decision, which upheld objections over the lack of novelty and an inventive step, is a boost to efforts for affordable access to the BPaL treatment regimen.

This regimen combines bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid, an all-oral three-drug approach used in eligible drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients. It offers a shorter treatment course and eliminates injectable drugs. Activists Eldred Tellis, Ganesh Acharya, and the Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) opposed the patent application, arguing it lacked originality and did not meet statutory patent requirements.

Mumbai has seen a decline in total tuberculosis cases from 60,633 in 2024 to 54,390 in 2025, but drug-resistant TB cases still number 4,080, underscoring the need for effective and affordable treatments. Ganesh Acharya, a TB survivor and president of TB People India, emphasized that patients' lives must take precedence over patent monopolies, asserting that affordable access to life-saving medicines is a right, not a privilege.