Economics
A Teen’s Life Hangs in Balance as India Wages Superbug War
- Family seeks access to tighly regulated Johnson & Johnson drug
- India is home to high levels of drug-resistant infections
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A teenage girl, caught in the crossfire of India’s war on drug-resistant superbugs, is waging a closely watched legal battle for access to a tightly regulated new medicine that her doctor says could save her life.
The father of the 18-year-old girl has filed a lawsuit to force the Indian government to lift regulatory restrictions on access to bedaquiline, an antibiotic made by Johnson & Johnson and the first new treatment for tuberculosis in almost 50 years. The suit, filed in a New Delhi court, comes up for hearing on Monday.