Jim’s task was like a logician’s conundrum. To lower the prices of the drugs, he had to show that a lot of TB projects would use them. For a lot of projects to use them, the prices had to be lower. For the prices to be lower, the generic manufacturers would have to get involved. They’d be more inclined to get involved if WHO would put the second-line antibiotics on its official list of essential drugs. But rarely used drugs are by definition not essential. To break through this circular chain, Jim began to lobby WHO for the drugs’ inclusion on the list.
