The second new drug for tuberculosis (TB) in 50 years has been made available in SA. TB is the biggest killer in SA‚ although the underlying cause of infections in 75% of TB patients is untreated HIV. About 450‚000 people contract TB each year in SA, of which about 20‚000 get multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). The cure rate for MDR-TB in SA is at its highest ever at 50%, but this still means one in two patients will die. Now, a new drug will hopefully save more lives. Delamanid‚ a Japanese-developed drug‚ has fewer negative side-effects and is more effective than current medications. Otsuka Pharmaceutical developed the drug for neglected populations: as TB is primarily a disease of the poor‚ there has been a shortage of investment in new drugs for the disease‚ which kills 1.5 million people globally each year. Delamanid has been made available to the National Department of Health to be used on 400 patients for free; its actual cost is about R40‚000 per patient. Otsuka executives hand...
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