Fighting drug-resistant TB was costly. Here's how that's changed

Phumeza Tisile was treated for MDR-TB in 2010 and suffered severe side effects from the drug, kanamycin. Her experiences drove her to join the global bedaquiline advocacy campaign. After years of work from the campaign, including legal opposition to J&J’s patents, nearly universal access to bedaquiline was achieved in 2023, preventing J&J from extending its monopoly and enabling generic production. Tisile describes her work on the campaign and the challenges they faced along the way to make bedaquiline widely accessible. Read more here.