Programs & Projects

In many countries there is considerable variability in the regimens used for multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment. Tailoring MDR-TB treatment regimens will aid in better adherence and improve individual treatment outcomes, thus potentially reducing opportunities for onward transmission. However, extensive regimen variation can limit opportunities for negotiating lower drug prices (and thus for increasing access) in what are already considered small-demand drug markets. For a country making decisions regarding drug procurement, this raises the question: What is the most cost effective strategy for national level procurement of MDR-TB drugs?

WDI, in partnership with Imperial College London and the University of Michigan, is collaborating to help determine optimal treatment regimens for drug resistant TB for India using a combined modeling approach. This approach combines epidemiological transmission as well as relevant market factors to understand if and/or how those factors impact the design of an optimal treatment regimen and budgetary allocation for MDR-TB in India. The project team is conducting a comprehensive topical literature review, meeting with key stakeholders, collecting price data, developing the baseline epidemiological model, and writing a technical report summarizing different regimen scenarios on market and health outcomes.