Expanding access to biotherapeutics in low-income and middle-income countries through public health non-exclusive voluntary intellectual property licensing: considerations, requirements, and opportunities.

Biotherapeutics, such as recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies, have become mainstays of modern medicine as shown by their increasing number in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. However, despite frequently offering clinical advantages over standards of care, they remain largely out of reach for populations in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), partly because of high costs. Accordingly, the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines Expert Committee has requested that the Medicines Patent Pool explore intellectual property licensing to address this challenge.

A decade of HIV care in rural Tanzania: Trends in clinical outcomes and impact of clinic optimisation in an open, prospective cohort.

Objectives: Our objectives were to describe trends in enrolment and clinical outcomes in the open, prospective Kilombero and Ulanga Antiretroviral Cohort (KIULARCO) in the Morogoro region of southern Tanzania, and identify strengths and areas for improvement in the care of HIV-positive individuals in rural Tanzania.

Methods: We included adults (≥15 years) and children (<15 years) enrolled in the cohort in 2005-2014. The cohort underwent significant changes from autumn 2012 to optimise care.

Incidence and risk factors for hypertension among HIV patients in rural Tanzania - A prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Scarce data are available on the epidemiology of hypertension among HIV patients in rural sub-Saharan Africa. We explored the prevalence, incidence and risk factors for incident hypertension among patients who were enrolled in a rural HIV cohort in Tanzania.

Methods: Prospective longitudinal study including HIV patients enrolled in the Kilombero and Ulanga Antiretroviral Cohort between 2013 and 2015.

Tuberculous spondylitis diagnosed through Xpert MTB/RIF assay in urine: a case report.

Background: Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis of EPTB is challenging in resource-limited settings due to difficulties in obtaining samples, as well as the paucibacillarity of the specimens. Skeletal tuberculosis accounts for 10-35 % of EPTB cases, with vertebral osteomyelitis (Pott's disease) representing 50 % of the cases.