On October 30, 2014, in conjunction with the Union World Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Treatment Action Group (TAG), the Stop TB Partnership, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Partners In Health (PIH), and the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine sponsored a symposium titled “Zero Accountability: when action doesn’t match the numbers.” The symposium began with an introduction highlighting inadequacies in the global response to the MDR-TB emergency. Two panels, with individual talks followed by panel-wide discussions, then convened around the current state of research and development for MDR-TB, including the complexity and duration of existing treatments, and key access issues, including pricing and the uptake of new drugs and regimens.
Welcome and introduction
Colleen Daniels, Treatment Action Group
Panel 1: research and development
Financing the MDR-TB response
Mark Dybul, Global Fund
Bending the epidemic curve of MDR-TB: modeling the population-level impact of MDR-TB treatment as prevention
David Dowdy, Johns Hopkins University
Poor evidence for DR-TB regimens: the equipoise of immediate implementation
Keertan Dheda, University of Cape Town
The current state of pharma
Mark Harrington, Treatment Action Group
A patient perspective – when drugs save lives
Thato Mosidi, TB Proof
Panel I discussion
Chair: Jennifer Furin, Case Western Reserve University
Panel II: access
Pricing of DR-TB drugs
Sharonann Lynch, Médecins Sans Frontières
MDR-TB drugs – supply-chain complexities
Harkesh Dabas, Clinton Health Access Initiative
The implementation gap
Salmaan Keshavjee, Partners In Health
A patient perspective – compassionate use
Stephanie, advocate and sister of patient with XDR-TB
Panel II discussion
Chair: Lucica Ditiu, Stop TB Partnership