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Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson

2023-07-11 · letter vlog · John · 7:25 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta, heavy topic

As bedaquiline's original patent expires, John explains how Johnson & Johnson is using a secondary 'pen cap' patent to block generic versions of the drug against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which experts say will leave up to six million people without it, and asks viewers to pressure the company, arguing evergreening is immoral and bad for its reputation.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Bedaquiline's patent expires next week, but J&J will enforce a secondary patent; Nerdfighteria can make the case against it

  • ★★★ 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
  • ★★★ 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 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John says tuberculosis is the world's deadliest infectious disease, killing about 30,000 people last week (week of 3 July 2023), although it is usually curable. — 00:00:29 · tuberculosis

00:00:58 — History of TB drugs: lost decades of research, drug resistance, and how bedaquiline was developed with mostly public money

  • ★★ John says drug-resistant TB, not cured by the standard daily four-month drug cocktail, is a growing problem. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says eight classes of TB drugs were developed between the 1940s and 1960s, then none until the end of the century, because investment stopped once TB no longer troubled rich countries. — 00:00:58 · tuberculosis
  • ★★★ John warns that if global health keeps caring about infectious disease only when it affects rich countries, resistance will grow until an incurable strain causes a pandemic reaching rich countries. — 00:01:27 · global health
  • ★★★ John says all human lives are equally valuable, and it is completely unacceptable that people will die this year (2023) of a curable disease. — 00:01:27 · health equity
  • ★★ John says 1.6 million people will die of tuberculosis, a curable disease, this year (2023). — 00:01:27 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ 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

00:02:26 — The 2003 and 2007 patents, the pen-cap analogy, lives saved, generic prices, and court rulings against the secondary patent

  • ★★★ 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
  • ★★ John relays an expert's analogy: the secondary patent is like patenting a pen cap that makes your pen work better and last longer, but is not the pen. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ 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
  • ★★ John says bedaquiline has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ John recalls meeting two young women in Sierra Leone a couple of months ago who were dying of TB; after a bedaquiline cocktail they recovered and are now cured, home and in school. — 00:02:55 · Sierra Leone, tuberculosis
  • ★★★ 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
  • ★★★ 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
  • ★★★ 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
  • ★★ John says he is angry, but thinks change is possible here. — 00:03:53
  • ★★ John says that after lawsuits by TB survivors, led by two young women, courts ruled the pen cap is not adequate innovation and did not grant the patent. — 00:03:53

00:04:23 — Call to action: contact J&J, tag its social media, tell others, and speak up from inside the company

  • ★★ John says generic manufacturers are ready, but cannot distribute to many high-burden countries, including Sierra Leone. — 00:04:23 · Sierra Leone
  • ★★★ John says J&J is not an evil monolith but a company of people, most of whom he believes want their work to make the world better. — 00:04:52
  • ★★ 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
  • ★★★ 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. — 00:04:52
  • ★★ 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
  • ★★ 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
  • ★★★ John credits J&J's researchers for bedaquiline's good, but says the time has come for the publicly funded drug to be returned to the public as a public good. — 00:05:50

00:06:19 — Plea to J&J executives: evergreening is a bad business decision that harms trust in their brands; sign-off

  • ★★★ Speaking to J&J's executives as one CEO to another, John says this is a bad business decision: denying bedaquiline to six million people will badly hurt the company's valuable reputation. — 00:06:19
  • ★★ John says many people pay extra for J&J's Neosporin over generic because they trust it, and this decision undermines that trust. — 00:06:19
  • ★★ John says evergreening the patent while knowing it will cost hundreds of thousands of lives tarnishes J&J's corporate reputation. — 00:06:49
  • ★★ 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

In the description and comments

  • ★★★ 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. — video description
  • ★★ The description says the details are still awaited and asks viewers to tell J&J they need them. — video description
  • ★★ The description says generic bedaquiline will cut the drug's cost by over 60%, letting far more communities access treatment. — video description
  • ★ The description thanks TB expert Carole Mitnick and MSF's Christophe Perrin for helping John understand drug patents. — video description
  • ★★ In a comment John says he wrote a Washington Post op-ed when he learned of the patent move, and made the video when it didn't get enough traction. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John says he is not appealing to J&J's morals but proposing to overwhelm it with negative attention so withdrawing the extension is in its interest. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John says patent law should be reformed, but meanwhile people should save real lives with resources available now. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Bedaquiline · evergreening · generic drug · Johnson & Johnson · multidrug-resistant tuberculosis · patent · tuberculosis

Also: Works: Our Credo

Organizations: Médecins Sans Frontières

Concepts: antimicrobial resistance · global health · health equity · infectious disease · pharmaceutical industry

Places: Sierra Leone

Products: Band-Aid · Listerine · Neosporin · Tylenol

Only in the description or credits: Carole Mitnick · Christophe Perrin · Stop TB Partnership · The Washington Post

Also centred on Bedaquiline: The Good News Video · Henry · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES · An Incredible Update

Also centred on Johnson & Johnson: The Good News Video · An Incredible Update

Also centred on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES · MASSIVE Tuberculosis News · End of a Rough Year · ITS ALL HAPPENING · Real Reasons for Hope

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