As part of recent efforts to raise awareness about tuberculosis, Doctors Without Borders publicly called upon Pfizer and Sequella, the pharmaceutical companies who hold the most current research data about the TB drug sutezolid, to make the data available to other researchers so that they don’t have to repeat clinical trials, which would slow down the research process. Johns Hopkins University owns some patents for the drug, but Pfizer also has a stake in sutezolid and, as recently as 2013, had an exclusive partnership with Sequella regarding its clinical research.
In a letter to the companies, Doctors Without Borders admonished the companies to take action so that individuals who have TB won’t have to keep waiting for potential new treatments that could alleviate their condition.