Analysis of accessibility to anti-tuberculosis drugs in the Asia-Pacific region between 2019 and 2022

Equitable access to anti-tuberculosis drugs remains a pressing global health challenge. We aim to investigate consumption trends across nine Asia-Pacific countries between 2019 and 2022.

We used pharmaceutical sales data from three databases to analyze 17 anti-tuberculosis drugs across nine countries. Consumption was measured in standardized units per 1000 tuberculosis cases. Compound annual growth rate assessed trends, and Spearman correlation examined associations with six health and economic indicators.

Consumption growth rates ranged from -39.2% to +58.2% across countries. Lower-middle-income economies had substantially lower median consumption (2157 units per 1000 cases) than upper-middle-income economies (14,417 units per 1000 cases). First-line drugs accounted for over 90% of total sales, while next-generation drugs for drug-resistant tuberculosis showed limited availability. Consumption correlated strongly with GDP per capita, life expectancy, Human Development Index, and Universal Health Coverage index.

Significant disparities in drug accessibility persist across the Asia-Pacific region. Achieving the WHO End Tuberculosis Strategy goals requires accelerating drug regulatory approvals, strengthening public-private collaboration, and sustained international support for resource-limited settings.