The Conversation: Preventing TB: a big drug price cut paves the way for global scale-up
Gavin Churchyard, honorary professor at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Public Health and CEO of the Aurum Institute

“…Talks to lower the price [of the antibiotic rifapentine] from US$45 to US$15 for a three-month course [to prevent tuberculosis (TB)] took more than a year to complete and involved Sanofi, Unitaid, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility and the United States PEPFAR initiative. Now we — those of us who have been working to bring preventive therapy to the people whose lives depend on it — must roll up our sleeves and make it happen. … The [WHO TB prevention] guidelines now include three months of rifapentine and isoniazid taken weekly for people living in countries with a high TB burden. … All prevention programs must begin with finding the people who need TB preventive therapy…” (1/13).