AS Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) 20-year primary patent on the critical, lifesaving drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) drug bedaquiline expires in majority of countries, including India, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reiterated its call for the US pharmaceutical corporation to publicly announce it will not enforce any "secondary" patents for the drug in any country with a high burden of TB and withdraw and abandon all pending secondary patent applications for this critical drug everywhere.
Doctors Without Borders also called for a commitment from J&J to not take any legal action against any generic manufacturer that exports generic versions of bedaquiline to or from TB-high-burden countries where secondary patents on the drug exist.
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