Two Healthcare Firms Pledge Support for USAID TB Diagnosis, Treatment Programs

The U.S. Agency for International Development has partnered with healthcare companies Janssen and Cepheid in an effort to increase diagnostic technology and medicine access for patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

USAID said Thursday Janssen has pledged to donate as much as $20 million in cash and pharmaceutical products to the anti-TB effort while Cepheid agreed to provide a rapid diagnostic system.

Ariel Pablos-Mendez, assistant administrator for global health at USAID, said the partnerships support the White House’s national action plan to develop medical tools against MDR-TB.

USAID estimates that more than 4,000 people worldwide die of TB everyday and around 1.5 million TB patients die each year.

Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, previously signed an agreement to donate $30 million worth of its TB antibiotic drug Sirturo to USAID over a three-year period.