John asks viewers to pressure Johnson & Johnson to drop its secondary bedaquiline patent (2023)
ask · status: reported back · last event: result reported (2025-10-01) · owner: John
In July 2023 John asked viewers to contact Johnson & Johnson and object to its attempt to evergreen its patent on the tuberculosis drug bedaquiline. Within days the Stop TB Partnership announced a deal for generic bedaquiline, by the end of September J&J said it would not enforce its secondary patents in 143 low- and middle-income countries, and the brothers kept crediting the community for the lower price.
Told alongside: John asks viewers to press Danaher and Cepheid to cut GeneXpert TB test cartridges to $5 (2023) · Hank: the community will never again achieve something of the magnitude of the bedaquiline licensing win (2023)
About: Johnson & Johnson, evergreening, Stop TB Partnership, Bedaquiline, generic drug
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-07-11 | first in the videos (reminder; it began earlier) | The description says the details are still awaited and asks viewers to tell J&J they need them. | Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson video description |
| 2023-07-11 | result reported | The description's update announces that the Stop TB Partnership has negotiated with J&J to make generic bedaquiline available in almost every high-TB-burden country. | Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson creator comment |
| 2023-07-11 | asked | John asks viewers to use the links to contact J&J and say its attempt to evergreen the patent is reprehensible and against its credo, and to tag J&J on social media. | Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson 00:04:52 |
| 2023-07-14 | result reported | Hank reads the Stop TB Partnership's statement: after lengthy negotiations, J&J licensed its Global Drug Facility to supply generic bedaquiline to most low- and middle-income countries, even where patents remain. → refers to Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson | The Good News Video 00:02:17 |
| 2023-07-18 | thanks | John thinks this community helped lead a big step in that direction last week (week of 10 July 2023) and is overwhelmed with gratitude, but says it is one step and more are needed. | Tuberculosis Fighters Have a Posse 00:05:21 |
| 2023-09-05 | result reported | John reports the Stop TB Partnership has announced that in most high-tuberculosis countries generic competition will cut the price of bedaquiline by over 50%, which he calls amazing news. | I Ain't Even Here, Sergeant. I'm in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 00:00:40 |
| 2023-09-12 | result reported | John says employees speaking up was an essential part of the pressure that led Johnson & Johnson to swiftly allow generic competition for bedaquiline. | Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid 00:07:03 |
| 2023-09-14 | result reported | John reports that today South Africa's government announced it will investigate J&J's attempts to keep enforcing its secondary bedaquiline patents there and keep prices high. | Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES 00:10:40 |
| 2023-09-14 | thanks | John thanks viewers for continuing to monitor Johnson & Johnson and press it to expand bedaquiline access. | Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES 00:58:13 |
| 2023-09-30 | result reported | John reports that today J&J announced it will not enforce its secondary bedaquiline patents in any of the 143 low- and middle-income countries. (doubtful: 143) | An Incredible Update 00:01:27 |
| 2023-09-30 | thanks | John thanks everyone who wrote an email, made a call, tweeted or made a meme: they made a huge difference. | An Incredible Update 00:03:10 |
| 2023-12-05 | thanks | John credits Nerdfighteria in part for Johnson & Johnson not pursuing secondary patents on bedaquiline, which helps make the new regimens cheap. | MASSIVE Tuberculosis News 00:02:55 |
| 2024-01-16 (happened 2023) | result reported | In 2023 the community helped convince Johnson & Johnson to abandon all secondary patents on the tuberculosis drug bedaquiline, which has already lowered prices and made it more accessible where it is most needed. | The Bank of Nerdfighteria 00:03:28 |
| 2024-06-18 | result reported | John has seen the community's power in reducing maternal mortality in Sierra Leone and driving down TB drug and test prices: never underestimate Nerdfighteria. | The Tea 00:05:45 |
| 2025-09-30 | result reported | Hank adds activism (wording unclear) that has forced companies to lower the prices of tuberculosis tests and medications. | WHO ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE DOING 00:03:59 |
| 2025-10-01 | result reported | John recalls advocates, including many viewers, pressing Johnson & Johnson to abandon evergreening its bedaquiline patent; since it went off patent the price has fallen about 60% in two years. | Real Reasons for Hope 00:01:27 |
What is said about it
31 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says that instead of bedaquiline's patent expiring next Tuesday (18 July 2023), Johnson & Johnson will begin enforcing a secondary patent, denying people access to the drug. — 00:00:00
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — The description says generic bedaquiline will cut the drug's cost by over 60%, letting far more communities access treatment. — video description
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — ask: John tells Nerdfighteria that if they understand the problem together and convince J&J it is pursuing a bad business strategy, they can save many lives. — 00:00:29
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says governments later invested more in TB research and trials, and J&J developed bedaquiline; most of the money came from the public, though J&J took some risks and invested too. — 00:01:56
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says J&J patented the bedaquiline compound in 2003 and in 2007 filed a secondary patent for bedaquiline with an added fumarate salt. — 00:02:26
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says J&J always knew it would need the pen cap and waited until 2007 precisely to extend the length of its patent. — 00:02:26
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John cites an MSF study: with generics allowed globally, bedaquiline's price would drop 67%, from $1.50 to 50 cents a pill. — 00:03:24
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says the original 2003 bedaquiline patent expires on July 18th, 2023, but in many countries J&J is using the secondary patent to extend its exclusivity. — 00:03:24
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says experts estimate that during the four extra years of exclusivity up to six million people who could get generic bedaquiline won't afford it, and most will die. — 00:03:53
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says generic manufacturers are ready, but cannot distribute to many high-burden countries, including Sierra Leone. — 00:04:23
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John notes J&J's corporate credo begins by naming patients as its first responsibility, and wants the company to live up to it. — 00:04:52
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — ask: John asks viewers to tell friends, family and the internet, since executives think nobody is watching in the places where they sell most products, like Band-Aids, Tylenol and Listerine. — 00:05:21
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — ask: John asks anyone who works at J&J, or knows someone who does, to tell their bosses and the CEO they oppose the patent extension. — 00:05:50
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says evergreening the patent while knowing it will cost hundreds of thousands of lives tarnishes J&J's corporate reputation. — 00:06:49
- 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — ask: John: Quoting the credo back, John tells J&J that until it embraces its promise to patients, they will keep pressuring it to live up to its credo. — 00:06:49
- 2023-07-14 · The Good News Video — Hank explains that J&J isn't cancelling the patent but is allowing generics in places with a high TB burden. — 00:02:17
- 2023-07-14 · The Good News Video — Hank says he is really proud to be part of this community, to be John's brother, and of the memes, both critical of J&J and celebrating its action. — 00:03:16
- 2023-09-05 · I Ain't Even Here, Sergeant. I'm in Cheyenne, Wyoming. — John recalls that a couple of months ago Nerdfighteria helped raise the alarm about Johnson & Johnson trying to extend the patent on its antibiotic bedaquiline. — 00:00:31
- 2023-09-14 · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES — Phumeza Tisile: Phumeza welcomes the news: South Africa was the only country getting bedaquiline from J&J at a much higher price than any other, which angered activists. — 00:11:58
- 2023-09-14 · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES — Phumeza Tisile: Phumeza says it makes no sense to create a solution and then keep it out of reach of the people who need it most, as with bedaquiline and the Xpert test. — 00:19:35
- 2023-09-14 · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES — Nandita Venkatesan: Nandita says the patent opposition they won faced skeptics questioning their motives, since both had finished treatment, and asking whether they were against innovation or understood the economics. — 00:54:31
- 2023-09-14 · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES — John thanks the audience, including a viewer who called Cepheid and reached a person within two minutes, for keeping pressure on Danaher and monitoring J&J on bedaquiline. — 00:58:13
- 2023-09-30 · An Incredible Update — The description says J&J confirmed it will not enforce secondary bedaquiline patents in any low- or middle-income country; the agreement covers 134 nations, essentially everything asked for. — video description
- 2023-09-30 · An Incredible Update — John recalls that after days of pressure J&J and the Global Fund announced generic competition only in some countries, leaving out Ukraine, South Africa and many others: a compromise win. — 00:00:58
- 2023-09-30 · An Incredible Update — John says Nerdfighteria and many others kept pushing J&J over the last month to release the secondary patent entirely. — 00:01:45
- 2023-09-30 · An Incredible Update — John says J&J has essentially agreed to everything Doctors Without Borders, Partners In Health, Treatment Action Group and many others asked for. — 00:02:17
- 2023-09-30 · An Incredible Update — John thanks J&J and says he feels nothing but gratitude, with a little surprise; the news is beyond his capacity for language. — 00:03:24
- 2023-12-05 · MASSIVE Tuberculosis News — John says the low price is partly because Johnson & Johnson is not pursuing secondary patents on bedaquiline, which is in part thanks to Nerdfighteria. — 00:02:26
- 2025-10-01 · Real Reasons for Hope — John: Partners In Health treated MDR-TB in Peru, proving it curable in a famous Lancet study; costs then fell to about $3,000, since none of the drugs were under patent, and the WHO began recommending treatment. — 00:00:58
- 2025-10-01 · Real Reasons for Hope — John says advocates, including many viewers, kept pressuring governments and drug companies to lower the price, famously pressing Johnson & Johnson to abandon evergreening its bedaquiline patent. — 00:01:27
- 2025-10-01 · Real Reasons for Hope — John says that since bedaquiline went off patent its price has dropped by about 60% in just two years. — 00:01:56