Tuberculosis Medicines Technology and Market Landscape, 1st Edition

Tuberculosis (TB) is a curable disease, but among the 8.7 million new cases in 2011, there were 1.4 million deaths. Currently available medicines can cure most cases of TB in six months, and advances in technology—including novel and repurposed medicines and regimens—hold promise as new or improved tools to treat drug resistant forms of the disease. However, many patients do not have access to appropriate TB medicines. Lack of access can be traced, in large part, to markets that do not function well.

This report is part of a broad and ongoing effort by UNITAID to understand the landscape for TB medicines so as to complement other tools and initiatives. As data on TB medicines markets are incomplete, UNITAID intends this report to serve primarily as a platform for stimulating discussion. That is, this report should be considered a preliminary analysis to: 1) engage key stakeholders in discussion of critical market shortcomings related to TB medicines; and 2) to identify potential market-based approaches to remedy these and establish or restore functional market dynamics.