The Good News Video

2023-07-14 · letter vlog · Hank · 7:44 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: Personal life) · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, heavy topic, community lore

Hank shares two pieces of good news: days after John's video and Nerdfighter pressure, Johnson & Johnson licensed generic bedaquiline for most low- and middle-income countries, and Hank has finished chemotherapy for his Hodgkin lymphoma with good scans, expecting radiation and then remission.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Recap of John's bedaquiline video; Hank's changed view of John's year-long TB focus

• ★★ Recapping John's video, Hank says bedaquiline, a drug for multidrug-resistant TB, has been around for 20 years and its patent is expiring, but J&J looked set to extend it four more years. — 00:00:00
• ★★ Hank admits that during the last year he sometimes thought John was over-investing in tuberculosis, a feeling he no longer has: going deeper shows people working on real solutions. (playful) — 00:00:29 · John Green, tuberculosis

00:00:58 — Nerdfighter pressure, J&J's misleading statement, the lens gag, and not writing off the whole company

• ★★★ Hank says that after John's video Nerdfighters went nuts on Reddit, Twitter and other social media, with letters and phone calls; he hopes everyone was polite. — 00:00:58 · Nerdfighteria, Reddit, Twitter, social media
• ★★ Hank reads J&J's statement claiming it is false to suggest its patents are being used to prevent access to bedaquiline, its medicine for multidrug-resistant TB. — 00:01:24
• ★ Parodying the statement, Hank says he misplaced his normal Vlogbrothers lens and is shooting on a 50mm, which is why the video looks weird. (playful) — 00:01:24 · Vlogbrothers
• ★★★ Hank says people at J&J have worked far harder on multidrug-resistant TB than he has, and infectious-disease researchers could probably earn more on baldness cures or cancer research, so he doesn't want to be mad at the whole company: writing it off is wrong. — 00:01:53 · cancer
• ★★ Hank says J&J's statement was bad and misleading and he didn't like it. — 00:01:53

00:02:17 — Stop TB Partnership announces a license for generic bedaquiline; the community removed a needless barrier; Hank's pride

• ★★★ 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. — 00:02:17
• ★★ Hank explains that J&J isn't cancelling the patent but is allowing generics in places with a high TB burden. — 00:02:17
• ★★★ Hank says John got into the rooms where drug-resistant TB is discussed and found a needless barrier; the community asked whether it could go, and within days it was gone. — 00:02:46 · John Green, Nerdfighteria
• ★★ Hank doubts the community will ever achieve something that big again: it was possible only because John spent over a year focused on a huge, neglected problem. — 00:03:16 · John Green
• ★★ 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 · Nerdfighteria, John Green
• ★ Hank speaks of a world with less TB as fast as possible, and maybe someday a world with none. (hedged) — 00:03:45 · tuberculosis

00:04:14 — Hank's lymphoma update: last chemo, PET scans, radiation next, remission expected; chemo is awful but amazing

• ★★ Hank says Hodgkin's lymphoma is a treatable disease that responds well to treatment in most cases. — 00:04:14 · Hodgkin lymphoma
• ★★★ Hank says his lymphoma responded well and he has had the last chemo of his treatment plan, needing only four sessions. — 00:04:14 · Hodgkin lymphoma, chemotherapy
• ★★ Showing his scans, Hank explains that dark areas on a PET scan mark high glucose uptake, since cancer cells use far more glucose than normal tissue. — 00:04:43 · cancer
• ★★★ Hank's earlier scan showed lymph nodes swollen with cancer; now most have shrunk to normal, two remain swollen with some uptake, which is common and what doctors want to see. — 00:04:43
• ★★★ Hank will start radiation in a couple of weeks, since some cancer cells probably remain that his immune system might not clear; he meets his doctor next week (week of 17 July 2023) to plan it. — 00:05:12
• ★★ Hank says that if he relapses there are further treatments, worse than what he has been through, but still options. — 00:05:42 · Hodgkin lymphoma
• ★★ Hank says his cancer is clearly responsive to chemotherapy: he has killed and pissed out so many cancer cells. (playful) — 00:05:42 · chemotherapy
• ★★★ Hank calls chemo the least fun thing he has ever done and hates it, but finds it amazing and powerful, and feels lucky to have access, a nearby hospital, and decades of refined treatment plans. — 00:06:11 · chemotherapy

00:06:40 — Side-effect trade-offs, remission in maybe two months, the best news video, sign-off

• ★★★ Hank says that barring something very weird he will officially be in remission in maybe two months, then be monitored for years. (hedged) — 00:06:40 · Hodgkin lymphoma
• ★★ Hank says his chemo drugs can cause other diseases, so he must keep monitoring; every medication trades off side effects, and chemo balances the treatment's long-term effects against the disease's. — 00:06:40 · chemotherapy
• ★★ Hank calls this the best news video in all 15-plus years of Vlogbrothers. (playful) — 00:07:15 · Vlogbrothers
• ★★ Hank is grateful not to have chemo today, which would have been a chemo day; he would have done it, but didn't like it. — 00:07:15 · chemotherapy

In the description and comments

• ★★ The description notes J&J did not abandon its patent and could still limit access, but calls its licenses for generics where most needed a massive win. — video description
• ★★ The description says Hank is not out of the woods yet, but the woods are much less woodsy, so he feels good. (playful) — video description
• ★ In a comment John cheers Hank's week and news: way to piss out that cancer, he is so happy. — creator comment · Hank Green

Threads in this video

• result reported · John asks viewers to pressure Johnson & Johnson to drop its secondary bedaquiline patent (2023) — 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. (00:02:17) → refers to Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson
• update · Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and chemotherapy (2023) — Hank says his lymphoma responded well and he has had the last chemo of his treatment plan, needing only four sessions. (00:04:14)
• update · John reads widely about tuberculosis and 19th-century illness (2022) — Hank admits that during the last year he sometimes thought John was over-investing in tuberculosis, a feeling he no longer has: going deeper shows people working on real solutions. (00:00:29)
• restate · Can business do good, or does business have to suck? — Hank says people at J&J have worked far harder on multidrug-resistant TB than he has, and infectious-disease researchers could probably earn more on baldness cures or cancer research, so he doesn't want to be mad at the whole company: writing it off is wrong. (00:01:53)
• restate · Do people achieve more together than as individuals? — Hank says John got into the rooms where drug-resistant TB is discussed and found a needless barrier; the community asked whether it could go, and within days it was gone. (00:02:46)
• restate · Is human life getting better; is now the best time to be alive? — Hank calls chemo the least fun thing he has ever done and hates it, but finds it amazing and powerful, and feels lucky to have access, a nearby hospital, and decades of refined treatment plans. (00:06:11)
• restate · Is outrage useful? — Hank says people at J&J have worked far harder on multidrug-resistant TB than he has, and infectious-disease researchers could probably earn more on baldness cures or cancer research, so he doesn't want to be mad at the whole company: writing it off is wrong. (00:01:53)
• predicted · Hank: the community will never again achieve something of the magnitude of the bedaquiline licensing win (2023) — Hank doubts the community will ever achieve something that big again: it was possible only because John spent over a year focused on a huge, neglected problem. (00:03:16)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John asks viewers to pressure Johnson & Johnson to drop its secondary bedaquiline patent (2023) — reported back; last: result reported, 2025-10-01
• Hank: the community will never again achieve something of the magnitude of the bedaquiline licensing win (2023) — unresolved; last: predicted, 2023-07-14
• Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and chemotherapy (2023) — told 34×, last update 2026; last: retold, 2026-10-09
• John reads widely about tuberculosis and 19th-century illness (2022) — told 3×, last update 2026; last: retold, 2026-08-25

Mentioned

Central: Bedaquiline · chemotherapy · Hodgkin lymphoma · Johnson & Johnson

Also: Organizations: Reddit · Stop TB Partnership · Twitter

Concepts: cancer · generic drug · immune system · infectious disease · multidrug-resistant tuberculosis · patent · positron emission tomography · Radiation therapy · social media · tuberculosis

Also centred on Bedaquiline: Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson · Henry · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES · An Incredible Update

Also centred on Johnson & Johnson: Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson · An Incredible Update

Replies to

• continues · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — “So I guess this week, you made a video about how there's a drug for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis”

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