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An 18-year old Indian woman health's has been deteriorating after her family started to file an appeal in an Indian court to gain access to Bedaquilines, a restricted and government-controlled drug in India that is used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis.

World Street Journal reports that Bedaquiline is a controlled drug in India. However, an 18-year old woman and her family sought for the access to use the drug to be able to treat the woman's XDR-TB. Bedaquilineis restricted in India because if used inappropriately, it can produce a bacterium that is resistant to the drug. The drug was only made available in 2016 for qualified patients limited to five cities located in India.

The woman lives in Patna, a city in India that is not included in the list of cities where Bedaquiline is accessible. However, the hospital in new Delhi where she had sought access to the drug will remove her from Patna to be able to live I a residence qualified for the criteria required to access Bedaquiline.

CDC describes drug-resistant TB can occur when the drugs used to treat the disease is mismanaged. If an individual fails to complete the full course of TB treatment, he or she may end up getting the advanced form of the disease, XDR-TB. If the medications used for treatment are of poor quality, one can also acquire a drug-receptive type of TB.

The recent ruling and grant gave to the family of the woman bring hope to patients suffering from drug-restricted Tb or XDR-TB. Harvard Medical School and expert on the treatment of XDR-TB, Jennifer Furin points out that the legal precedent indicating that patients and hospitals can take their plea to court and compel them to provide access to the drug is a good news for other XDR-Tb patients.

Bedaquiline is a drug produced by Johnson & Johnson and is one of the new tuberculosis medications that has been developed after almost 50 years. The drug is also recommended by the World Health Organization for patients with XDR-TB.