The six-month, all-oral BPaL/M regimens for the treatment of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) are already changing the trajectory of DR-TB care – saving lives and money around the world. A recently conducted modeling exercise by Johns Hopkins University found that since introduction, the BPaL/M regimens have already saved more than 11,000 lives and $100M for health systems globally.
This impact is set to dramatically multiply due to the recent significant scale-up of BPaL/M implementation. Pretomanid is currently procured in volumes to support BPaL and BPaL-based regimens treating about 75% of the overall number of DR-TB cases treated annually. This number is projected to soon reach 90%. The impact of widespread implementation of these new regimens is monumental.
In BPaL/M’s first 15 years of approval (by 2034), it’s expected to:
- Treat 2,037,988 people treated with DR-TB
- Save 191,222 additional lives
- Save health systems US$1.29B
- Restore 5,120,433 years of healthy life
- Treat 332,654 more people successfully
- Enable 179,697 more people to complete treatment
While lives saved is the most dramatic statistic in impact analyses such as these, it is important not to forget how reductions in length, complexity, side effects, and pill burden translate to improved treatment experiences for all who receive six-month, all-oral DR-TB therapy.
Further, by fueling increases in treatment completion and successful treatment outcomes, BPaL-based regimens are a highly valuable tool in combatting antimicrobial resistance more broadly, as recently recognized by the World Health Organization is their recent publication, Country preparedness for the introduction and appropriate use of antibiotics.
BPaL/M impact data will continue to be tracked on TB Alliance’s BPaL Impact Dashboard. As more real-world data continues to be reported from national programs, the projections will be updated to reflect observed outcomes.