
Amid growing frustration over the cost and development of tuberculosis medicines, the U.S. government is pushing changes in global policy at a United Nations meeting this week that patient advocacy groups claim will make access and affordability more difficult for poorer countries.
Specifically, the U.S. has proposed language that would negate provisions found in a World Trade Organization agreement, which allows countries to issue compulsory licenses as a way to create lower-cost alternatives to medicines, according to the latest draft version of an agreement.