{
  "id": 16917740,
  "title": "Indian Patent Office Rejects TB Drug Patent, Boosting Push For Affordable MDR-TB Treatment",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/28/indian-patent-office-rejects-tb-drug-patent-boosting-push-for",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-28T14:51:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/indian-patent-office-rejects-tb-drug-patent-boosting-push-for-affordable-mdr-tb-treatment"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.",
  "summary": "Mumbai, October 27, 2026: In a significant step towards making treatment more affordable for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), the Indian Patent Office has rejected a patent application filed by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance). The office upheld objections related to lack of novelty, absence of an inventive step and other statutory requirements under…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}