Medicinalkoncernen GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) er gået sammen med bl.a. FNs Verdensfødevareprogram (WHO) og Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation om at udrydde 10 tropiske sygdomme inden 2020.
Det skriver koncernen i en pressemeddelelse mandag.
LONDON; 30 January 2012: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced Monday it has joined other global pharmaceutical companies and leading organisations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK DfID (det britiske Danida) and USAID (USAs Danida) in a new united effort to support developing countries to defeat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
These diseases affect more than one billion people in developing countries, causing illness, disability (handicaps) and death, and increasing the burden on over-stretched health systems (see below).
This coalition will support the ambitious goals set out this week by the WHO to con-trol or eliminate ten of the 17 diseases designated as NTDs by the end of the decade.
This includes eliminating five diseases: lymphatic filariasis (elefant-syge), guinea worm, blinding trachoma, sleeping sickness (sovesyge) and leprosy (spedalskhed), and controlling by 2020 a further five: soil transmitted helminthes (indvoldsorme), schistosomiasis (sneglefeber – bilharzia), river blindness, Chagas (parasitsygdom) and visceral leishmaniasis (største parasitdræber efter malaria).
Tabletter mod indvoldsorme
In support of these goals, GSK has expanded its albendazole donation programme which targets two neglected diseases and has strengthened its commitment to support Research and Development (R&D) efforts.
GSK has Monday pledged to extend by an additional five years its commitment to donate 400 million albendazole tablets (mod angreb af indvoldsorm) each year to the WHO to enable de-worming of school age children in all endemic countries (hvor lidelserne optræder).
Expanding this programme, which was initially planned to run to 2015, will equate to (svare til) an additional two billion tablets of albendazole being donated up to 2020.
GSK has also reaffirmed its commitment to supply all the albendazole needed to eliminate lymphatic filariasis worldwide by 2020.
GSK currently donates 600 million tablets of albendazole each year to WHO to prevent transmission of lymphatic filariasis and has donated over two billion doses to the WHO to date.
During 2000 to 2010, GSK donated over 2,6 billion albendazole treatments to 58 countries. The overall economic benefit of the lymphatic filariasis programme during 2000-2007 is conservatively estimated at 24 billion US dollar.
GSK will play an active role in developing new and better treatments for NTDs through collaborative partnerships such as with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a not-for-profit R&D organisation.
GSK shares knowledge, research and intellectual property with groups such as DNDi to support drug discovery efforts against diseases including sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas. GSK is also a founder member of the WIPO Re:Search consortium created to help accelerate the development of new and better treatments against NTDs.
In addition, GSK continues to invest in its own active R&D programme for diseases that most affect developing countries, including NTDs. This R&D portfolio currently includes projects for Chagas, dengue, human African trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.
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Læs videre på
http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2012/2012-pressrelease-875381.htm
Yderligere oplysninger hos:
Journalist Henrik Kastoft
External Affairs Manager, GlaxoSmithKline Denmark
Tlf. 36 35 92 87 og mobil: 24 69 92 87
E-mail: [email protected]
