Improved Process to Speed Availability of Life-Saving TB Drugs for People in Canada
[Ottawa, March 18, 2025] Stop TB Canada is pleased to announce an improved process to speed availability of new, life-saving treatment for drug resistant TB (DR-TB) to people in Canada. Working with non-profit drug developer TB Alliance which developed the new treatment, Stop TB Canada has ensured a more streamlined procurement of pretomanid, a new drug and component of the BPaL/M regimen, which the World Health Organization has recommended for almost all forms of DR-TB. Treatment can now be procured in about a week, as against 30 days previously.
A recent report by Stop TB Canada revealed that the procurement process for Canadian physicians seeking to obtain the BPaL/M drugs for their patients typically took nearly 30 days, resulting in critical delays starting patients on treatment. Upon identifying and confirming this issue, Stop TB Canada engaged pretomanid’s developer, the not-for-profit TB Alliance, which works with a global manufacturer, Viatris, to successfully shorten this process to approximately one week.
BPaL/M is a six-month, all-oral DR-TB treatment regimen comprising bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, with or without moxifloxacin for people with DR-TB. Prior to the development of BPaL/M, treatment for highly drug-resistant forms of TB typically took 20 months or longer and resulted in successful cure less than 60% of the time. The global DR-TB treatment success rate with BPaL/M is approximately 90%. Having timely access to this new regimen, including pretomanid, in Canada is critical to meeting WHO and Canada’s own recommended standards of care for people with TB.
“Pretomanid is an essential TB medication - we were glad to help secure more rapid access to it for Canadians. We applaud TB Alliance and Viatris for being so responsive, and working with us to develop a much faster procurement pathway” , said Dr Elizabeth Rea, a public health physician working with Stop TB Canada. “We need additional drug suppliers to follow suit so that Canadians with DR-TB can start full treatment on a gold standard DR-TB regimen immediately after their diagnosis .”
“Getting medicines in the hands of those who need them as quickly as possible is core to our mission,” said Sandeep Juneja, Senior Vice President of Market Access at TB Alliance. “When we were made aware of the delays Canadian physicians were facing in procuring pretomanid for those they were treating, we worked with our partners to reduce the time it takes to get treatment to Canadians in need. We are grateful to Stop TB Canada, Canadian physicians and Viatris for their support in rapidly finding a solution.”
While there are more than 400,000 people with DR-TB around the world, Canada is not a high DR-TB burden country; only 39 people were diagnosed with DR-TB here in 2023. Due to the low numbers in Canada, physicians have to source medications in the BPaL/M regimen internationally. Previously, accessing pretomanid through the Health Canada process for these non-marketed drugs involved multiple lengthy steps and approvals. The new streamlined process reduces turnaround time from at least 3 - 4 weeks as the majority of respondents to a Stop TB Canada survey reported, to one week.